Things is a proprietary task management application for Apple devices. Available for well over a decade, Things has a cult-like following and is renowned for its design and ease of use. In August 2021, Things added Markdown support in version 3.14.

Things doesn’t support all Markdown syntax elements, but the elements it does support make sense in the context of the application. The people using Things aren’t using it to write blog posts — they’re taking short notes.

Markdown in Things application for Mac

Things maps Markdown formatting to keyboard shortcuts so you don’t have to actually type the characters required to add Markdown formatting. For example, you don’t have to type ** to make your word bold (although you can). Instead, you can just press Command-B and Things will wrap your word in double asterisks.

Things Markdown Support

Things provides support for the following Markdown elements.

Element Support Notes
Headings Partial Alternative syntax is not supported.
Paragraphs Yes
Line Breaks Yes
Bold Yes
Italic Yes
Blockquotes Yes
Ordered Lists Yes
Unordered Lists Yes
Code Yes
Horizontal Rules Partial The syntax is supported, but the horizontal rules themselves aren’t rendered in the application.
Links Yes
Images Partial The syntax is supported, but the images themselves aren’t rendered in the application.
Tables No
Fenced Code Blocks Yes
Syntax Highlighting No
Footnotes No
Heading IDs No
Definition Lists No
Strikethrough Yes
Task Lists Yes
Emoji (copy and paste) Yes
Emoji (shortcodes) No
Highlight Yes Use two colons instead of equal signs (e.g., ::word or phrase::).
Subscript No
Superscript No
Automatic URL Linking Yes
Disabling Automatic URL Linking Yes
HTML No

See Also