Markdown Preview: Write, Render and Export Markdown in Your Browser

DataFmt Team
#markdown #editor #html #documentation #writing
5 min read

Markdown Preview: Write, Render and Export Markdown in Your Browser

Markdown is the lingua franca of technical writing — README files, blog posts, documentation, GitHub issues, Notion pages and chat apps all support it. Our Markdown Preview gives you a clean two-pane editor with live HTML rendering, no install required and zero data sent to a server.

Why Markdown?

  • Plain text — readable raw, version-controllable, diff-friendly.
  • Portable — renders anywhere: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, static site generators, IDEs, chat apps.
  • Focused — the syntax is small enough to learn in 10 minutes.
  • Future-proof — your content survives long after any specific app.

Cheat sheet

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3

**bold**, *italic*, ~~strikethrough~~, `inline code`

- bullet list
- another item

1. numbered list
2. step two

> A blockquote.

[Link text](https://datafmt.com)

![alt text](/path/to/image.png)

```js
// fenced code block
console.log("Hello, Markdown!");

## What our editor supports

- **Headings** (`#` through `######`)
- **Inline formatting**: bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code
- **Lists**: ordered and unordered
- **Links and images** (with safe URL filtering — `javascript:` and `data:` URLs are blocked to prevent XSS)
- **Fenced code blocks** with language tags (`\`\`\`js`)
- **Blockquotes** (`>`)
- **Horizontal rules** (`---`)
- **Live word and character count**
- **One-click export** to `.md` or `.html`

## Tips for great Markdown

1. **One blank line between blocks.** Lists and paragraphs need separation.
2. **Use fenced blocks with language tags** so syntax highlighters can colorize your code.
3. **Keep links descriptive** — `[the spec](url)` reads better than `[here](url)` and helps screen readers.
4. **Use reference-style links** for repeated URLs and footnotes.
5. **Preview before publishing.** Tools like ours catch malformed lists and broken indentation early.

## Differences between Markdown flavors

The original Markdown spec (Gruber, 2004) is small. Most platforms extend it:

- **GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM)** adds tables, strikethrough, task lists, autolinks.
- **CommonMark** is a strict, unambiguous spec used by Discord, Reddit and Stack Overflow.
- **MDX** lets you embed JSX components inside Markdown — used by Astro, Next.js docs.

Our preview implements a sensible CommonMark-like subset suitable for READMEs, blog drafts and notes.

## Privacy

Everything happens locally — your draft is saved to `localStorage` so you can refresh without losing work, and **nothing is uploaded**. Open the [Markdown Preview](/en/tools/markdown-preview) and start writing.

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