Markdown is an easy-to-learn markup language used to format plain text documents. Even if you have no previous experience with the language, Markdown is so simple that you can learn it in less than 10 minutes.
For example, if you want to make a word appear in italics, simply surround it with asterisks (e.g., *test* becomes test. test). This also works for entire sentences or even paragraphs. If you want to create a bulleted list, simply start each line with a hyphen. Simple, right?
There are many Markdown editing applications, and you can even use Markdown in Microsoft Word. Check out the Markdown cheat sheet below for a quick overview of what you can do with this app.
Cheat sheet Markdown
Format type |
Markdown syntax |
---|---|
Basic elements |
|
Heading H1 to H6 |
|
Italics |
|
Bold |
|
Quote |
|
The list is unordered |
|
The list is ordered |
|
Mixed list |
|
Horizontal line |
|
Hyperlink |
|
Image |
|
Skip Markdown |
|
Expansion elements |
|
Code (inline) |
|
Code (Block) |
|
Strikethrough |
|
Hard line break |
|
Board |
Note: There must be a blank line in front. |
List of tasks |
|
Mention |
|
Emoji |
|
Note: Almost all versions of Markdown support basic elements, but extended elements are only supported by more advanced forms of Markdown, including CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown.
What is Markdown Flavor Version?
The original Markdown specification came out in 2004. However, despite its innovation, many users felt that the original Markdown's feature set was too limited for anything beyond a simple document format .
As more websites adopted Markdown as the preferred text input method (e.g., blog posts, comments, forum posts, etc.), they began to add and support Markdown markup elements. own. Notable sites include Reddit, GitHub, Stack Exchange, etc.
Eventually, users started pushing for a standardized set of formatting elements, leading to the creation of even more versions of Markdown such as CommonMark, MultiMarkdown, Markdown Extra, GitHub Flavored Markdown, etc.
In short, once you've learned the basic elements outlined in the original Markdown specification, you'll be able to easily pick up any other version of Markdown. The variations are very subtle and usually only useful in very specific use cases.
If you're still looking for a markdown editor, try Typora or a productivity tool like Notion.