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I love writing in Markdown and would like to be able to write and preview Markdown content in Notepad++.

Are there any WYSIWYG Markdown plugins for Notepad++?

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  • It sounds like you want to edit rich text using markdown syntax; Notepad++ is of course just a plain text editor, but which supports syntax highlighting. If you really need offline editing capability, you might want to instead look at a desktop editor that supports it, like this open source one
    – Geoff
    Apr 22, 2013 at 17:16
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    Perhaps the 'question' at hand is to find a plug-in to do something like the netbeans markdown plugin; this supplies some syntax highlighting and also has a preview mode. The preview mode can be configured to save the HTML version, which I find quite handy for readme files.
    – will
    Mar 31, 2015 at 22:54
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    There is an open issue for native Markdown support on the Notepad++ GitHub repository, but it doesn't seem to have gotten much traction.
    – Stevoisiak
    Jan 2, 2018 at 15:35
  • Alternative: Use Visual Studio Code. Just found out that it supports md editing natively.
    – Shahin Dohan
    Oct 11, 2021 at 12:35

10 Answers 10

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MarkdownViewer++ is a Notepad++ plugin that lets you type a file using Markdown and see the preview in real time, in a preview panel.

To clarify: unlike Markdown Syntax Highlighting for Notepad++, which was recommended by Oliver Salzburg here, it doesn't support inline rendering. The text file is treated as a normal one, and the plugin shows it rendered in another pane.

Syntax highlighting is provided by Notepad++.

A picture will make it clearer:

(Click here to see it at full size)

Among its features:

  • It supports CommonMark
  • You can export the result to HTML or to PDF
  • The preview panel can be moved around, resized at will, and docked

How to install it

To install it, use Notepad++'s plugin manager: open Notepad++ and go to Plugins → Plugins Admin..., then search for MarkdownViewer++, select it, and click on Install. It will automatically download the plugin and install it. At this point the editor must be restarted, and it will ask you whether you want to do it immediately (so there's no risk of losing your work).

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    Too bad it doesn't support syntax highlights. I need it for highlighting code.
    – SAm
    Jun 24, 2017 at 9:09
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    Last versions of Notepad++ don't include the Plugin Manager anymore. It's easy to install it by copying the required DLL ( github.com/nea/MarkdownViewerPlusPlus#installation )
    – tehnicaorg
    Jan 10, 2018 at 9:18
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    @SAm you can use this in conjunction with the Markdown Syntax plugin with no problems in my experience
    – seneyr
    Jul 2, 2018 at 15:00
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    Ok. for me, the "preview" window did not show up on restart of notepad++. There is a new menu item "Plugins / MarkdownViewer++ / MarkdownViewer++ (CNTL SHIFT M) " That got my preview window up and showing.
    – granadaCoder
    Aug 22, 2019 at 14:37
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    MarkdownViewerPlusPlus has not been updated for almost three years. There was lots of activity in 2017, but this stopped in May 2018. Unfortunately Markdown-Parser does not understand the markdown syntax, I have to use with Trac. :-(
    – Mario Klebsch
    Jan 15, 2021 at 9:21
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There's a project called Markdown Syntax Highlighting for Notepad++ on GitHub.

This project adds custom language highlighting for Markdown:

enter image description here

There's a version available for both the standard color scheme and the dark (ZenBurn) theme. After installation, you'll find a new option in the Language dropdown.

enter image description here

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  • 9
    How can I view the preview?
    – srk
    Apr 22, 2013 at 17:03
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    @srk: I don't think you can. If you want a proper Markdown editing experience, I would recommend looking at MarkdownPad. Otherwise, you may have to construct a macro maybe to render the document and open it in a browser. But that would be a horrible workflow I guess :\
    – Oliver Salzburg
    Apr 22, 2013 at 17:06
  • @srk: It's syntax highlighting just as the one I suggested. At least from what I can tell.
    – Oliver Salzburg
    Apr 22, 2013 at 17:08
  • Default modern currently mistakes bullets for italics (screenshot), but default classic works.
    – Eric Eskildsen
    Nov 28, 2018 at 17:51
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If you want to automatically preview Markdown in Notepad++ you can use the HTML Preview plugin (version 1.3 and higher) in combination with a Markdown tool. In the HTML preview plugin you can define a filter (a program that will be executed on a source file automatically before previewing the file).

You can define a filter using a menu option (changing the provided sample file does not work), or manually if you put Filters.ini file in the folder plugins\Config\PreviewHTML. An example of Filter.ini file is enclosed in the Preview plugin archive file available from PreviewHTML web page.

This is an example of Filters.ini file that uses a Python Markdown implementation:

; Content of Filters.ini file
[Markdown]
Extension=.md
Language=Markdown
Command=python -m markdown "%1"
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  • This answer would be better with a few things made clearer. (1) With which menu item one can define a filter? (2) Do you mean the program should take tab X in NPP as input and send output to tab Y in NPP as HTML, which can then be previewed with HTML Preview? Could you specify what exactly is markdown in your command line? I'm trying to get this working with markdown2, but no success yet.
    – RolfBly
    Feb 17, 2015 at 13:52
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    It is a little tricky to make this working:1. install python with "pip" (msi installer for python version 3.4.3 does this) 2.install markdown :"pip install markdown" 3. install the version >v1.3 of PreviewHTML, this is important because the plugin manager only provides the v1.2: get it manually from git repo fossil.2of4.net/npp_preview/info/fb02a79e74ace3be 4.create the filter from the menu "plugin/Preview HTML/Edit Filter Definitions" - here paste the Script. And then it works!
    – pdem
    Apr 16, 2015 at 12:27
  • it just not work.
    – Mostafa
    Apr 24, 2017 at 7:10
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    @pdem's instructions work beautifully! To install version 1.3, unzip the downloaded 1.3 files, copy the .dll to the Notepad++/plugins folder and the PreviewHTML folder to the Notepad++/plugins/Config folder and restart Notepad++.
    – nzn
    Jul 19, 2017 at 5:28
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There's now a Notepad++ plugin called Markdown Panel that supports syntax highlighting. enter image description here

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13

I found a simpler workflow is to use the Markdown extension in Chrome, do your edits in Notepad++, then point Chrome at your file and reload after each change.

There is no need for complex configuration, and it gets the job done for me.

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11

The "Edditoria" GitHub repository has a number of bugs (for example, # inside a link is broken) and hasn't been updated for years. After trying out the most active forks, this one is much better.

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  • seems this has changed in 2018 markdown_npp has not been updated for 5 years, but Edditoria/markdown-plus-plus has been updated only 2 months ago
    – TmTron
    Jan 16, 2018 at 10:23
  • @TmTron Good point, though the original repo has seen only a couple commits in all these years. Even the fork I mentioned didn't work perfectly, but it's something.
    – NateS
    Jan 16, 2018 at 13:40
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For syntax highlighting I would go for the solution of Oliver Salzburg.

Here I found a link to a nice trick if you want to preview Markdown in Notepad++ (link to the "trick").

The Gist: There is a Notepad++ extension called NPP_EXEC, which executes scripts. Combine it with the Perl (Python, Node.js, etc.) Markdown script to generate HTML output into a tab.

It is not very verbose, but I hope this still helps others that want the same. (Like me:))

This is a version, that could be used (it with a Node.js implementation of md2html), for people that don't like to wade through documentation:

NPP_SAVE
SET OUTFILE = C:\temp\md2html.html
cmd /c md2html "$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)" > $(OUTFILE)
NPP_RUN chrome $(OUTFILE)
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  • Please insert the gist or contents of the link. Links break and fade away which means that that part of your answer becomes meaningless to future visitors.
    – Tog
    Oct 8, 2013 at 8:53
  • This answer assumes the reader is either familiar enough with NPP_EXEC or willing to wade through its documentation to find out what exactly the script should be and how to get the output of a markdown-to-html converter in a new tab of Notepad++.
    – RolfBly
    Feb 15, 2015 at 21:40
  • @RolfBly i hope my Update helps you. this is how i use it, there are surely better or nicer ways. :)
    – winner_joiner
    Feb 16, 2015 at 10:47
  • @winner_joiner Works like a charm, thank you!
    – RolfBly
    Feb 17, 2015 at 19:33
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    NPP_RUN $(OUTFILE) ie without chrome, also works. Launches your default browser with c:\temp\md2html.
    – RolfBly
    Feb 18, 2015 at 14:13
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I know this is a kind of old question. And most of the answers has been given are sufficient to get anyone started. But I am adding this answer, since it just adds a step by step video tutorial to use MarkDown in Notepad++ and it also talks about enabling syntax highlighting for Markdown files in Notepad++. It also provides a step by step instructions with timestamps (to save anyone's time).

How to Use Markdown in Notepad++ - Video Tutorial

  1. How to Use Markdown in Notepad++ (00:00)
  2. What is Markdown language? (00:30)
  3. Advantages of Markdown (01:08)
  4. How to create a Markdown document in Notepad++? (02:10)
  5. Markdown Cheat sheet (04:04)
  6. Install Notepad++'s Markdown Preview Plugin (MarkdownPreviewer++) (05:32)
  7. Export Markdown file as HTML or PDF (08:19)

I hope to help someone who is getting started in using Markdown in Notepad++ and would like to know how to enable Syntax highlighting and Preview Markdown right from Notepad++.

Disclaimer: I am sorry if it sounds like a self promotion and I will delete my answer if more people think like that (number of downvotes).

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I know post is old but i just want to add to it Just open plugins admin Pic to what it is

install the Markdown Panel plugin and ur good. It shows embedded images too and looks good

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0

Just a few tweaks to winner joiner's answer. I now have two NPP_EXEC scripts, each under a keyboard shortcut.

One creates an HTML version of the Markdown file, with the same filename in the same directory, launches it in the default browser and shuts the console window. You then alt-tab over to the browser to admire the results.

NPP_SAVE
SET OUTFILE = "$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)\$(NAME_PART).html"
cmd /C \Python34\python.exe -m markdown2 "$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)" > $(OUTFILE)
NPP_RUN $(OUTFILE)
NPP_CONSOLE 0

The other does the same, except does not launch it in the browser (NPP_RUN $(OUTFILE) isn't there). I find this handy when I've already run the first script once: just alt-tab over to the browser and hit F5 to refresh it, rather than opening a new tab with the most recent edits.

You can save each script with its own name, stick it in the Macro menu with NPP_EXEC's Advanced Options, and then assign a keyboard shortcut to it via menu Settings → Shortcut Mapper.

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