Markdown Help & Feature Reference

Use-case guides

If you are evaluating mdedit.io for a specific workflow, start with one of these focused pages instead of reading the full reference first.

Editor & navigation

The main interface consists of a sidebar, the Markdown editor, and a right-hand area for preview, outline view, and AI chat.

Sharing & export

The share menu in the editor header lets you copy content, download files, and share a link to the current document.

Collaboration

Shared documents can be edited together. Presence, display name, and optional password protection are integrated into both the UI and the settings.

AI assistant

The AI assistant lives in a third panel next to preview and outline. It can work with the current document context and manage multiple chat sessions.

When you use the AI assistant, your prompt, current document content, and chat history are sent to the selected external AI provider. Do not enter confidential or especially sensitive data. Details are available in the privacy notice.

Basic Markdown

The core syntax follows classic Markdown for text, headings, lists, links, images, and code.

# Heading

- Item 1
- Item 2

[Link](https://example.com)
![Image](image.png)

`inline`

```js
console.log("Hello")
```

> Quote

GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM)

GFM stands for GitHub Flavored Markdown. In mdedit.io this mainly includes tables, task lists, automatic links, and strikethrough.

Mermaid diagrams

Mermaid is rendered directly from code blocks. There is also a visual Mermaid editor with preview, properties, and zoom.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
  A[Start] --> B{Decision}
  B -->|Yes| C[Continue]
```

Math with KaTeX

Formulas can be written inline or as blocks and are rendered with KaTeX.

$E=mc^2$

$$
\int_0^\infty e^{-x^2} \, dx = \frac{\sqrt{\pi}}{2}
$$

Extended syntax

In addition to basic Markdown and GFM, mdedit.io includes extra plugins for more structured documents.

Scientific documents

For structured academic and scientific writing, mdedit.io supports automatic section numbering, typed section IDs, internal cross-references, and bibliography management via BibTeX/CSL.

Frontmatter keys

Section IDs and cross-references

Assign a typed ID to a heading and reference it anywhere in the text:

## Methodology {#sec:methodology}

### Data collection {#sec:data}

As described in [@sec:methodology],
see also [@sec:data].

The preview resolves [@sec:id] into a clickable link with the section number, e.g. Section 2.1.

Citations and bibliography

When citation-source: embedded is set, mdedit.io reads the bibliography from an mdedit-bibliography block inside the document. The block accepts BibTeX or CSL JSON:

---
citation-source: embedded
number-sections: true
---

## Introduction {#sec:intro}

As shown by [@Author2024] …

```mdedit-bibliography
@article{Author2024,
  author = {Author, A.},
  title  = {Title},
  year   = {2024}
}
```

You can also place a CSL JSON array in the same block. Use #refs when you want to place the references section explicitly.

Bibliography modal: manage sources

Click the bibliography icon in the toolbar to open the modal for managing all sources in the embedded block.

PDF vs. DOCX in the scientific workflow

mdedit.io exports scientific documents in two formats for different purposes:

• PDF (Paged preview): Print-ready output for submission and archiving. Layout, margins and typography are rendered precisely.
• DOCX (Word): Editable review format for supervisor feedback and track-changes annotation. Headings, body text, lists, tables, citations and bibliography remain fully editable. Mermaid diagrams and complex layout elements are best-effort.

Scientific containers

Semantic environments for theorems, definitions, proofs and similar structures. Use Pandoc fenced divs with a type name and optional title:

::: theorem Fundamental Theorem of Calculus
Let $f$ be continuously differentiable on $[a,b]$, then …
:::

::: definition
A set $M$ is called **compact** if …
:::

::: proof
From compactness it follows that …
:::

Supported types: theorem, definition, proof, remark, example, lemma, corollary, proposition. Containers are numbered and visually set apart in preview and PDF.

Appendix mode

Place <!-- appendix --> or ::: appendix anywhere in the document to have all subsequent ## headings automatically labelled Appendix A, B, C …. In the PDF each appendix starts on a new page:

## Conclusion

<!-- appendix -->

## Raw measurement data

(Contents of Appendix A)

## Interview transcripts

(Contents of Appendix B)

Mermaid diagrams with captions

A caption and figure ID can be specified directly inside the Mermaid code block as comments:

```mermaid
%% caption: System architecture overview
%% id: fig:architecture
flowchart LR
  A[Client] --> B[Server]
  B --> C[Database]
```

In the PDF the diagram is placed as a numbered figure. Use [@fig:architecture] to cross-reference it in the text.

Footnotes in PDF

Standard Markdown footnotes are placed as true page footnotes in the PDF. Labels starting with end- or endnote- stay in the endnotes block at the end of the document instead:

This claim is disputed.[^1]

This additional source note should deliberately remain an endnote.[^end-source-note]

[^1]: See Müller (2023), pp. 45–48 for an extended discussion.
[^end-source-note]: This note stays in the document-end endnotes block.

Short rule: normal labels such as [^1] or [^note] become page footnotes; labels such as [^end-note] or [^endnote-1] remain endnotes.

Author comments

Text between %% is treated as an internal author comment and stripped entirely from both preview and export. Useful for working notes, TODOs, and editorial remarks:

%% TODO: expand this section %%

The finished paragraph goes here.

%% REVIEW: check citation — page number missing %%

Single-line comments without a closing %% are also removed.

Layout, print & images

For print-oriented documents, mdedit.io combines Markdown with document-local layout rules, preview presets, and paged preview.

Figures & tables

mdedit.io automatically detects numbered figures and table captions and can generate figure and table lists from them.

Image attributes

Place <!-- img: ... --> directly before an image link to control alignment, size, and visual effects:

<!-- img: align=right width=40% frame -->
![Figure 1: Description](image.png)

<!-- img: align=center width=80% filter=grayscale -->
![Figure 2: Print test](schema.png)

Figure captions

If the alt text starts with Figure N:, the image is automatically numbered with a caption.

![Figure 1: System overview with data pipeline](schema.png)

Table captions

A paragraph immediately before a table that starts with Table N: is recognized as a table caption:

Table 1: Comparison of layout areas.

| Area | Status |
|---|---|
| Margins | ☑ |

List of figures and list of tables

Place one of the following markers at the desired location in the document:

<!-- list-of-figures -->

# List of Figures

<!-- list-of-tables -->

# List of Tables

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