Read and write markdown

Your notes,
as a finished document.

MDown opens a markdown file the way it was meant to be read: one continuous document, styled properly, with tables that fit their contents. Press a key and the source appears beside it, so you can fix a line and watch it change.

Write one now Get the desktop app

Free and open. Linux and macOS, version 1.2.1; Windows and Android on the way.

MDown — release-notes.md [editor]

1# Release notes
2
3A viewer that gets out of
the way, and an editor
when you need one.
4
5## What changed
6
7| Area | Change |
8|------|--------|
9| Tables | `auto-fit` |
10| Editor | split view |

Release notes

A viewer that gets out of the way, and an editor when you need one.

What changed

Area	Change
Tables	auto-fit
Editor	split view

Small, quick, and out of the way

A native application in about five thousand lines, not a browser in a costume.

Reads like a document

One continuous scroll, no pagination. Headings, lists, quotes, and highlighted code, styled the way a reader expects.

Tables that fit

Every column takes the width its contents need, and a long value wraps inside its cell instead of running across the table.

Edit beside the render

Source on the left, the live document on the right. Type and it updates; Ctrl+S writes the file back.

Embedded HTML, rendered

Tables, links, images, <kbd>, <mark>, colours and centred blocks come out as themselves, not as raw tags.

Out to PDF and Word

The online editor turns a document into PDF, .docx, or OpenDocument, typeset rather than screenshotted.

Android is coming

The same documents, read the same way, on a phone. Not released yet; the desktop builds are here now.

Two ways to use it

Install it for the files on your machine, or open the editor and start typing.

Desktop

The application

A native reader and editor for your own files, with tabs, live reload when a file changes on disk, and printing.

Opens instantly, stays out of the way
Viewer by default, editor on Ctrl+E
Bundled fonts and libraries, no extra packages
Updates itself with mdown --update

Download for Linux

In your browser

The online editor

Write with formatting, or in raw markdown beside a live preview. Nothing leaves your browser until you ask for a file.

Rich text and markdown views of one document
Export to PDF, Word, OpenDocument, or HTML
Open a .md file and save one back
Your draft is kept in the browser between visits

Open the editor

Install in one line

No root, no package manager. It picks the build for your architecture and puts it in ~/.local.

Linux · x86_64 and ARM64

curl -fsSL https://mdown.org/install.sh | sh

macOS · Apple Silicon and Intel