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Using Notepad++ As A Markdown Editor

By: Thomas Hawkins     Published Date: 2022-02-03 10:30:00

I've been looking for a new (free) markdown editor to replace Typora now that it is no longer free, and I decided to try out Notepad++ as it is a piece of software I use fairly regularly.  This post will document the setup and use, and some pros and cons of using Notepad++ as a markdown editor.

Note: Of course you can use Notepad++ out of the box as a markdown editor, since markdown is just plain text, but these configuration tweaks and plugin additions make it a bit easier to work with.

First, get Notepad++ from: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/

Once installed, you will need to MarkdownViewer++ Plugin.

• Click the Plugins menu and Plugins Admin...
• Search for MarkdownViewer++.
• Select it, and click Install.
• Notepad++ will download the plugin, restart, and install it.

Notepad++, by default, doesn't do syntax highlighting for markdown, but it has a user defined language option where you can specify your own, and fortunately someone has already done that!  The UDL files have been created and made available here: https://github.com/Edditoria/markdown-plus-plus  This page contains all the information on the files, and installation methods.  I did a manual install, which I'll highlight below:

• Download the source code in latest release page. It should be a zip file.
• Open the zip file and go to <udl\> folder.
• Copy a XML file of your favorite theme, and paste in <userDefineLangs\> folder of Notepad++.
  • Within Notepad++, double click the type of file in the bottom left corner of the screen.
  • Hover over User Defined Language
  • Click Open User Defined Language Folder...
  • Paste in the XML file for your preferred theme.
• Restart Notepad++.
• Open and test with a Markdown file e.g. test/at-a-glance.md.

My final tweak was to enable the Folder as Workspace feature and point it at my Markdown Notes directory.  This allows me to easily pop around my notes folders and see/edit files.

• Click the View menu.
• Click Folder as Workspace.
• Right click and then click Add
• Browse to your folder and select it.  Once selected, your files will appear.  You can browse the folder structure and load your files.

To enable viewing of the rendered markdown, click the M {downarrow} button that appears in the menu bar. You can see the final configured interface below.

Pros, Cons and Workarounds

Pros

If you use Notepad++ regularly, then you know it is a very powerful application with oddles of functionality.  If you work with a bit of markdown, then having more markdown functionality within Notepad++ saves you time switching from program to program.

Notepad++ is fast, and a really light weight application.

The MarkdownViewer++ plugin allows you to copy/paste or export/save formatted content into HTML or PDF formats for easy sharing of formatted work.

Cons

In the Folder as Workspace feature, you cannot create folders or files.

The MarkdownViewer++ plugin does not appear to provide a live preview.

The MarkdownViewer++ plugin Synchronize Scrolling feature does not appear work.

Workarounds

To create files and folders you can do the following:

• Right click an existing folder, and click Explorer here which will open a Windows Explorer window at this location
  • and/or
• Follow this trick thanks to the Settings > Prefences > Default Directory > Follow Current Document feature.
  • https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51581098/how-to-create-a-file-under-specific-workspace-in-notepad 

To refresh your preview of the document, click the M {downarrow} button.

Sources:

• Markdown UDL files: https://github.com/Edditoria/markdown-plus-plus
• Markdown Syntax Reference: https://www.markdownguide.org/basic-syntax/ 
• MarkdownViewer++: https://github.com/nea/MarkdownViewerPlusPlus