How to use Markdown in Notepad++

There's a project called Markdown Syntax Highlighting for Notepad++ on GitHub.

This project adds custom language highlighting for Markdown:

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.

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).

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"