Markdown previewer

See your markdown before you publish it

Markdown is the plain-text formatting language behind READMEs, GitHub issues, forum posts, documentation sites and half the note-taking apps in existence. Its whole appeal is that the raw text stays readable, but that cuts both ways: a missing space after a hash, an unclosed pair of asterisks or a mangled link only reveals itself once the text is rendered. This previewer closes that gap. Type or paste markdown in the box and the preview underneath updates on every keystroke, so you catch formatting slips before they reach the README or the comment thread.

Everything happens in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded, stored or seen by anyone, so drafts, internal docs and half-finished release notes are all safe to preview here.

What gets rendered

The previewer supports the everyday core of markdown:

• Headings: # for a large heading, ## and ### for smaller ones, each at the start of a line with a space after the hashes
• Bold and italic: **bold** with double asterisks, *italic* with single asterisks or _underscores_
• Links: [link text](https://example.com), with the address in parentheses
• Inline code: wrap a snippet in single backticks
• Code blocks: fence a block with three backticks on their own lines
• Lists: lines starting with - or * for bullets, or 1. 2. 3. for numbered lists
• Blockquotes: lines starting with a greater-than sign

Why raw HTML is deliberately not rendered

Full markdown technically allows raw HTML to pass straight through, and that is exactly how many sites end up with cross-site scripting holes: a pasted script tag or a crafted attribute executes in the reader's browser. This previewer takes the safe route instead. Every character you type is escaped first, turning tags into harmless visible text, and only then are the markdown transforms applied on top. If you paste HTML you will see it printed as text in the preview, and that is the tool working as designed, not a bug.

Links get the same treatment. Only addresses beginning with http, https or mailto become clickable; anything else, including javascript: addresses, is rendered as plain text. If you want to see how escaping works in the other direction, the HTML escape tool on this site does exactly that job.

Markdown habits that pay off

Most markdown mistakes come from spacing. Headings need the space after the hashes, list markers need a space after the dash or number, and a blank line between blocks keeps paragraphs, lists and quotes from running into each other. When something refuses to render, add a blank line above it and the problem usually disappears.

It also pays to remember that this is a deliberately small subset. Tables, images, footnotes and nested lists are common extensions rather than core markdown, and different platforms render them differently, so this previewer leaves them out. Use it to check the structure and the everyday formatting, then give the final document one last look on the platform where it will actually live. For counting words in the finished draft, the word counter is one click away.

Frequently asked questions

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