Markdown Guide

Markdown is a simple way to format text that looks great on any device. It doesn't do anything fancy like change the font size, color, or type — just the essentials, using keyboard symbols you already know. Since it is plain text, it is an easy way to author notes and documents and when needed it can be converted to a rich text HTML document.

Joplin desktop and mobile applications can display both the Markdown text and the rendered rich text document.

Joplin follows the CommonMark specification, with additional features added via plugins.

Cheat Sheet

This is a quick summary of the Markdown syntax.

	Markdown	Rendered Output
Heading 1	# Heading 1	Heading 1
Heading 2	## Heading 2	Heading 2
Heading 3	### Heading 3	Heading 3
Bold	This is some **bold text**	This is some bold text
Italic	This is some *italic text*	This is some italic text
Blockquotes	> Kent. > Where's the king? > Gent. > Contending with the > fretful elements	Kent. Where's the king? Gent. Contending with the fretful elements
List	- Milk - Eggs - Beers - Desperados - Heineken - Ham	Milk Eggs Beers Desperados Heineken Ham
Ordered list	1. Introduction 2. Main topic 1. First sub-topic 2. Second sub-topic 3. Conclusion	Introduction Main topic First sub-topic Second sub-topic Conclusion
Inline code	This is `someJavaScript()`	This is someJavaScript()
Code block	Here's some JavaScript code: ``` function hello() { alert('hello'); } ``` Language is normally auto-detected, but it can also be specified: ```sql SELECT * FROM users; DELETE FROM sessions; ```	Here's some JavaScript code: function hello() {     alert('hello'); } Language is normally auto-detected, but it can also be specified: SELECT * FROM users; DELETE FROM sessions;
Unformatted text	Indent with a tab or 4 spaces for unformatted text. This text will not be formatted: Robert'); DROP TABLE students;--	Indent with a tab or 4 spaces for unformatted text. This text will not be formatted: Robert'); DROP TABLE students;--
Link	This is detected as a link: https://joplinapp.org And this is a link anchoring text content: [Joplin](https://joplinapp.org) And this is a link, with a title, anchoring text content: [Joplin](https://joplinapp.org "Joplin project page")	This is detected as a link: https://joplinapp.org And this is a link anchoring text content: Joplin And this is a link, with a title, anchoring text content: Joplin (hint: hover over the link)
Images	
Horizontal Rule	One rule: *** Another rule: ---	One rule: Another rule:
Tables	See below

Tables

Tables are created using pipes | and hyphens -. This is a Markdown table:

| First Header  | Second Header |
| ------------- | ------------- |
| Content Cell  | Content Cell  |
| Content Cell  | Content Cell  |

Which is rendered as:

First Header	Second Header
Content Cell	Content Cell
Content Cell	Content Cell

Note that there must be at least 3 dashes separating each header cell.

Colons can be used to align columns:

| Tables        | Are           | Cool  |
| ------------- |:-------------:| -----:|
| col 3 is      | right-aligned | $1600 |
| col 2 is      | centered      |   $12 |

Which is rendered as:

Tables	Are	Cool
col 3 is	right-aligned	$1600
col 2 is	centered	$12

Joplin Extras

Besides the standard Markdown syntax, Joplin supports several additional features.

Links to other notes

You can create a link to a note by specifying its ID in the URL. For example:

[Link to my note](:/0b0d62d15e60409dac34f354b6e9e839)

Since getting the ID of a note is not straightforward, each app provides a way to create such link. In the desktop app, drag and drop a note into another note to create a link. Or right click on a note and select "Copy Markdown link". In the mobile app, open a note and, in the top right menu, select "Copy Markdown link". You can then paste this link anywhere in another note.

Math notation

Math expressions can be added using the KaTeX notation. To add an inline equation, wrap the expression in $EXPRESSION$, eg. $\sqrt{3x-1}+(1+x)^2$. To create an expression block, wrap it as follow:

$$
EXPRESSION
$$

For example:

$$
f(x) = \int_{-\infty}^\infty
    \hat f(\xi)\,e^{2 \pi i \xi x}
    \,d\xi
$$

Here is an example with the Markdown and rendered result side by side:

Chemical equations

Joplin supports chemical equations via the mhchem plugin for KaTeX. This plugin is automatically enabled if you enable math notation. See the mhchem documentation for the syntax.

Diagrams

You can create diagrams in Joplin using the Mermaid syntax. To add such a graph, wrap the Mermaid script inside a "```mermaid" code block like this:

```mermaid
graph TD;
    A-->B;
    A-->C;
    B-->D;
    C-->D;
```

This is how it would look with the Markdown on the left, and rendered graph on the right:

Note that Mermaid graphs are always rendered on a white background regardless of the current theme. This is because they can contain various colours that may not be compatible with the current theme.

Checkboxes

Checkboxes can be added like so:

- [ ] Milk
- [x] Rice
- [ ] Eggs

Which would turn into:

The checkboxes can then be ticked in the mobile and desktop applications.

HTML support

It is generally recommended to enter the notes as Markdown as it makes the notes easier to edit. However for cases where certain features aren't supported (such as strikethrough or to highlight text), you can also use HTML code directly. For example this would be a valid note:

This is <s>strikethrough text</s> mixed with regular **Markdown**.

Markdown Plugins

Joplin supports a number of plugins that can be toggled on/off to enable/disable markdown features on top of the standard Markdown features you would expect. These plugins are listed below. Unlike regular plugins, Markdown plugins must be enabled in the markdown section of the Configuration screen. Not all of the plugins are enabled by default, if the "enabled" field is 'no' below, then open the option screen to enable the plugin. Plugins can be disabled in the same manner.

The functionality added by these plugins is not part of the CommonMark spec so, while they will all work within Joplin, it is not guaranteed that they will work in other Markdown readers. Often this is not an issue but keep it in mind if you require compatibility with other Markdown applications.

Plugin	Syntax	Description	Enabled	Screenshot
Soft breaks	See breaks markdown-it demo	Joplin uses hard breaks by default, which means that a line break is rendered as <br>. Enable soft breaks for traditional markdown line-break behaviour.	no	View
Typographer	See typographer markdown-it demo	Does typographic replacements, (c) -> © and so on	no	View
Linkify	See linkify markdown-it demo	Auto-detects URLs and convert them to clickable links	yes
Katex	$$math expr$$ or $math$	See above	yes	View
Fountain	```fountain Your screenplay... ```	Adds support for the Fountain markup language, a plain text markup language for screenwriting	no	View
Mermaid	```mermaid mermaid syntax... ```	See plugin page for full description	yes	View
Mark	==marked==	Transforms into <mark>marked</mark> (highlighted)	yes	View
Footnote	Simple inline footnote ^[I'm inline!]	See plugin page for full description	yes	View
TOC	Any of ${toc}, [[toc]], [toc], [[_toc_]]	Adds a table of contents to the location of the toc page. Based on headings and sub-headings	yes	View
Sub	X~1~	Transforms into X1	no	View
Sup	X^2^	Transforms into X2	no	View
Deflist	See pandoc page for syntax	Adds the html <dl> tag accessible through markdown	no	View
Abbr	*[HTML]: Hyper Text Markup Language The HTML specification	Allows definition of abbreviations that can be hovered over later for a full expansion	no	View
Emoji	:smile:	Transforms into 😄. See this list for more emojis	no	View
Insert	++inserted++	Transforms into <ins>inserted</ins> (inserted)	no	View
Multitable	See MultiMarkdown page	Adds more power and customization to markdown tables	no	View