MacDown is one of the best Markdown editors available for macOS. The application is free and open source, and it strikes a good balance between power and simplicity. MacDown provides excellent Markdown support.

MacDown sports two panes — you type on the left and preview the formatted text on the right. Basic export options for HTML and PDF file format are provided. You can enable and disable support for many syntax elements, a nice feature for people who simply don’t want or need all of the bells and whistles.

The MacDown application with open Markdown file.

MacDown Markdown Support

MacDown provides support for the following Markdown elements.

Element Support Notes
Headings Yes
Paragraphs Yes
Line Breaks Yes
Bold Yes
Italic Yes
Blockquotes Yes
Ordered Lists Yes
Unordered Lists Yes
Code Yes
Horizontal Rules Yes
Links Yes
Images Yes
Tables Yes Enabled by default in Preferences > Markdown.
Fenced Code Blocks Yes Enabled by default in Preferences > Markdown.
Syntax Highlighting Yes Disabled by default. Enable in Preferences > Rendering.
Footnotes Yes Enabled by default in Preferences > Markdown.
Heading IDs No
Definition Lists No
Strikethrough Yes Disabled by default. Enable in Preferences > Markdown.
Task Lists Yes Disabled by default. Enable in Preferences > Markdown.
Emoji (copy and paste) Yes
Emoji (shortcodes) No
Highlight Yes Disabled by default. Enable in Preferences > Markdown.
Subscript No
Superscript Yes Disabled by default. Enable in Preferences > Markdown.
Automatic URL Linking Yes Disabled by default. Enable in Preferences > Markdown.
Disabling Automatic URL Linking Yes
HTML Yes

Support for Additional Syntax Elements

As an added bonus, MacDown provides support for several obscure elements. These are disabled by default, but you can enable them in Preferences > Markdown.

Element Markdown Rendered Output
Underline _word or phrase_ word or phrase

See Also