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Markdown guide: syntax cheat sheet for great PDFs

Markdown is a lightweight way to format text using plain characters. This guide covers everything the editor supports, with tips for getting a clean PDF.

Headings

Start a line with one to six # characters. Use a single # for the document title and ## for sections — the theme styles them differently and the first heading is used as the file name.

# Title
## Section
### Subsection

Emphasis and links

**bold**, *italic*, ~~strikethrough~~, `inline code`
[link text](https://example.com)
![image alt text](https://example.com/image.png)

URLs are also turned into links automatically. Images must be publicly reachable URLs; for PDFs, prefer PNG, JPG or SVG.

Lists and task lists

- Item
  - Nested item
1. First
2. Second
- [x] Done
- [ ] To do

Tables

| Name | Role |
| --- | --- |
| Ana | Design |
| Luis | Code |

Table rows are never split across pages. For very wide tables, reduce the font size or choose narrow margins in the Style panel.

Code blocks

Wrap code in triple backticks and add the language name for syntax highlighting (js, ts, python, go, rust, sql, bash, json, yaml and many more).

```python
def hello():
    print("hi")
```

Diagrams with Mermaid

Use a mermaid code block to draw flowcharts, sequence diagrams, Gantt charts and more. Diagrams are rendered as vector graphics, so they stay sharp in the PDF.

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
  Browser->>Editor: type Markdown
  Editor->>Preview: render
```

Math

Write LaTeX between single dollar signs for inline math, $E = mc^2$, or between double dollar signs for a centered block:

$$
\int_0^1 x^2\,dx = \frac{1}{3}
$$

Footnotes and quotes

A claim that needs a source.[^1]

> A blockquote.

[^1]: The source.

Page breaks

Put <!-- pagebreak --> (or \pagebreak) alone on a line to start a new page. In the preview it appears as a dashed line.

Getting the best PDF

  • Click Download PDF and choose Save as PDF as the destination.
  • Turn off Headers and footers in the print dialog to remove the date and URL.
  • Keep Background graphics enabled so table headers and code blocks keep their shading.
  • Page size and margins come from the Style panel; you don’t need to change them in the dialog.
  • Need a file straight away? More → Quick PDF downloads immediately, but saves pages as images.

Starting from another format

Have a Word document, PDF or spreadsheet? Use Any file to Markdown first, then open the result in the editor.

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