MarkUpDown Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Markdown?
- How can I learn Markdown?
- Does MarkUpDown support any nonstandard Markdown?
- What is this SUPER AWESOME MarkUpDown multiline table format I've heard about?
- What are Easy Actions?
- Why does the Store say MarkUpDown needs an internet connection?
1.) What is Markdown?
Markdown is a shorthand for writing HTML code that is much more readable than "real" html.
For instance...
|
Function |
HTML Code |
Markdown Shortcut |
|---|---|---|
|
Bold |
The word bold is |
The word bold is |
|
Hyperlink |
HTML code creates |
Markdown creates links with |
See how much easier to read and type Markdown is than HTML? You're already a Markdown pro.
Markdown's really pretty easy. There are only a few shortcuts to learn. Most of them can be found in MarkUpDown's toolbar, as pictured here:
MarkUpDown also has keystroke shortcuts to these most popular Markdown tags. To learn the MarkUpDown keystrokes, view the MarkUpDown Keystroke Commands List. Not only will they help you create great HTML easily, that list also contains a number of shortcuts that will perform tricks you won't find in Markdown.
To see a reasonably full list of Markdown tags, check out the CommonMark help pages.
CommonMark also has a nice tutorial that'll teach you how to create most common Markdown tags through some helpful exercises.
3.) Does MarkUpDown support any nonstandard Markdown?
It's like you're reading my mind.
Yes, MarkUpDown supports a few extensions to vanilla Markdown. Let's split those into three types of formatting:
MarkUpDown allows you to insert HTML for which Markdown doesn't provide shortcuts, like <u>underlining</u> (the
underline button or Ctrl-U) or <strong style="background-color:yellow">highlighting</strong> (with Ctrl-H to Highlight).
MarkUpDown includes some Markdown extensions.
- For instance, MarkUpDown supports MultiMarkdown style tables.
Support for tables is currently in beta, but as the above link describes, MarkUpDown will turn this:
|Column 1|Column 2|Column 3| |--------|:------:|-------:| |Value 1 |Value 2 |Value 3 | |V4 |V5 |V6 |
... into this:
- For instance, MarkUpDown supports MultiMarkdown style tables.
Support for tables is currently in beta, but as the above link describes, MarkUpDown will turn this:
|
Column 1 |
Column 2 |
Column 3 |
|---|---|---|
|
Value 1 |
Value 2 |
Value 3 |
|
V4 |
V5 |
V6 |
- Finally, MarkUpDown contains extensions found only in MarkUpDown.
- For instance, MarkUpDown supports translating MultiMarkdown table format into Bootstrap grids! If you turn on bootstrap grid support in Beta Features in the MarkUpDown's Settings, you can also add a bootstrap marker,
[bs], followed by a space, after the first "pipe",|, to render what follows into a bootstrap grid, like this:
|[bs] Cell 1 | Cell 2 | Cell 3 | |Anything works here | as long as you | |end | up | with | less | than | twelve | |cells, | and at | least | two. | |Though divisors of | 12, inclusive, | work best. |
which produces this html code:
- For instance, MarkUpDown supports translating MultiMarkdown table format into Bootstrap grids! If you turn on bootstrap grid support in Beta Features in the MarkUpDown's Settings, you can also add a bootstrap marker,
<div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-4"> <p>Cell 1 </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-4"> <p>Cell 2 </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-4"> <p>Cell 3 </p> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-6"> <p>Anything works here </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-6"> <p>as long as you </p> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-2"> <p>end </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-2"> <p>up </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-2"> <p>with </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-2"> <p>less </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-2"> <p>than </p> </div> <div class="col-sm-2"> <p>twelve </p> </div> </div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-3">
<p>cells, </p>
</div>
<div class="col-sm-3">
<p>and at </p>
</div>
<div class="col-sm-3">
<p>least </p>
</div>
<div class="col-sm-3">
<p>two. </p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p>Though divisors of </p>
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p>12, inclusive, </p>
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p>work best. </p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
- It also allows multiline table format, a table format unique to MarkUpDown. More on this below.
4.) What is this SUPER AWESOME MarkUpDown multiline table format I've heard about?
To turn on Multiline Table support, click the Settings icon 
and open your Settings pane. Make sure HTML Table Support and Multiline Table Support are checked. To include Bootstrap Grid support, check that checkbox as well.
To learn more about how to write MarkUpDown Multiline Table syntax, including the laconic syntax shortcut, check out this page.
But for now, here's a...
Quick Multiline Syntax Introduction
MarkUpDown flavored Multiline Tables and Grids do a phenomenal job expanding the usefulness of HTML table and Bootstrap grid shortcuts in your Markdown. Where in MultiMarkdown tables, you're forced to get all of your cell content on a single line, making it difficult to find trailing columns and impossible to include complex Markdown in-cell...
| Icon | Notes | Action | Keystrokes |
|-----------------------|----------------------------|------------|----------------|
|  | Defaults to .md | Save As | Ctrl-Shift-S |
|  | Check your CSS Settings (by clicking the Settings button) to set whether you'd like the exported HTML to include the CSS used in the preview window.| Export | Ctrl-E |
|  | Opens the Find & Replace dialog. * F3 to Find again. * F4 to Replace any text currently found, then Find again. * F8 to Replace the found text with the replace text throughout (occurs immediately). | Find | Ctrl-F |
... MarkUpDown Multiline Tables and Grids makes additional markup possible and your table much more elegant to view...
+-----------------------+----------------------------+------------+----------------+
| Icon | Notes | Action | Keystrokes |
+-----------------------+----------------------------+------------+----------------+
|  | Defaults to .md | Save As | Ctrl-Shift-S |
+-----------------------+----------------------------+------------+----------------+
|  | Check your CSS Settings | Export | Ctrl-E |
| | (by clicking the Settings | | |
| | button) to set whether | | |
| | you'd like the exported | | |
| | HTML to include the CSS | | |
| | used in the preview window.| | |
+-----------------------+----------------------------+------------+----------------+
|  | Opens the Find & | Find | Ctrl-F |
| | Replace dialog. | | |
| | | | |
| | * F3 to Find again. | | |
| | * F4 to Replace any text | | |
| | currently found, then | | |
| | Find again. | | |
| | * F8 to Replace the found | | |
| | text with the replace | | |
| | text throughout (occurs | | |
| | immediately). | | |
+-----------------------+----------------------------+------------+----------------+
... which renders just like this...
|
Icon |
Notes |
Action |
Keystrokes |
|
|
Defaults to .md |
Save As |
Ctrl-Shift-S |
|
|
Check your CSS Settings (by clicking the Settings button) to set whether you'd like the exported HTML to include the CSS used in the preview window. |
Export |
Ctrl-E |
|
|
Opens the Find & Replace dialog.
|
Find |
Ctrl-F |
Bootstrap Grid
Even more powerful, perhaps, is the multiline Bootstrap Grid support.
+[bs]-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Row 1 Line 1 Col 1, | Row 1 Line 1 Col 2, | Row 1 Line 1 Col 3, |
| Row 1 Line 2 Col 1, | Row 1 Line 2 Col 2, | Row 1 Line 2 Col 3, |
| Row 1 Line 3 Col 1 | Row 1 Line 3 Col 2 | Row 1 Line 3 Col 3 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Row 2, 1st of 2 cells, line 1 | Row 2, 2nd of 2 cells |
| Row 2, 1st of 2 cells, line 2 | Row 2, 2nd of 2 cells |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
Rendered:
Row 1 Line 1 Col 1, Row 1 Line 2 Col 1, Row 1 Line 3 Col 1
Row 1 Line 1 Col 2, Row 1 Line 2 Col 2, Row 1 Line 3 Col 2
Row 1 Line 1 Col 3, Row 1 Line 2 Col 3, Row 1 Line 3 Col 3
Row 2, 1st of 2 cells, line 1 Row 2, 1st of 2 cells, line 2
Row 2, 2nd of 2 cells Row 2, 2nd of 2 cells
Or how about that same Bootstrap grid format in "laconic syntax"?
+[bs]
| 111, | 112, | 113
| 121, | 122, | 123
| 131 | 132 | 133
+
| 211, | 212
| 222 | 222
Rendered, the format is exactly like the earlier example:
111, 121, 131
112, 122, 132
113 123 133
211, 222
212 222
Now that's fast.
Learn More!
And don't forget to check out our page dedicated to MarkUpDown Multiline Table syntax.
Easy Actions are a number of features that make editing Markdown with MarkUpDown extremely easy with just your keyboard.
Most of these are explained quickly on the Keystroke Shortcut review page, but in all cases, Easy Actions try to guess what your next move would be while editing, and MarkUpDown tries to go ahead and prepare for you to do it efficiently.
Simpler than it sounds! Take for example the case of inserting a link. Sometimes, you'll have a link in your clipboard already, and you'll want to use that URL to create a link with text you already have on the page. With the Easy Actions for URLs, there are lots of neat shortcuts.
If you hit Ctrl-K by itself, with nothing selected and a URL in your clipboard, you'll get a Markdown formatted link with the URL in both the URL location and the link text location.
But what if you didn't want the URL as the text for the link? No problems. Easy Actions has already highlighted the text portion, and you can just start typing to replace it. If you want the URL both places, just hit the "end" button, and skip to the end of the line. Easy!
6.) Why does the Store say MarkUpDown needs an internet connection?
There are two places MarkUpDown uses your internet connection. The first is for uploading images to imgur. This will only occur if you have the imgur uploads feature turned on under Beta Features in MarkUpDown's Settings.
The second is from the web browsers within MarkUpDown. For instance, if you were to click a link in the preview of your Markdown in the preview pane, the pane will go to that URL. This is useful for checking your links for accuracy. (To reset the preview pane, hit Ctrl-R or type a key in the MarkUpdown editor page.)
The Help page in Settings also has links to off-site resources, like CommonMark.org's tutorials or a few sites' descriptions of Markdown syntax. On this page, those links have a red warning that an Internet connection is required. In the future, I may add checks to ensure you're on the latest version, or to update documentation or news about MarkUpDown from the Internet.