Markdown editor for Mac

Markdown notes, native on your Mac.

A fast app built with SwiftUI and AppKit, with a live preview. Open the folder of .md files you already have and start writing.

Mac App Store

Free · Version 3.6 · macOS 15.6 or later

No account · Works offline · Plain .md files

MarkdownMate on macOS showing a Markdown file and its live preview side by side

Light, dark or follows your Mac

No account, works offline

Your files stay yours

Keep ownership simple

Plain text is a great place to think.

MarkdownMate opens and saves standard .md files right where you keep them. Organize them in Finder, version them with Git, or keep them in iCloud Drive or Dropbox — no database to import or export. Built with SwiftUI and AppKit, it feels at home on macOS and stays light.

What you get in 3.6

Everything essential.
Nothing in the way.

A Markdown editor for Mac with the menus, shortcuts and window tabs you expect. Shortcuts use ⌘.

Write, preview, or both

  • Edit, Preview or side by side, with scroll sync between editor and preview
  • Markdown highlighting and inline styling as you type: bigger headings, real bold and italic, dimmed markers
  • Find in the preview (⌘F) and Go to Line (⌘L)
  • Word and character count in the status bar

Writing that flows

  • Smart lists and to-dos; Toggle Task with ⌘↩
  • Tables that line up their columns, with row and column commands
  • A format bar for headings, bold, links, lists, quotes and code (⇧⌘M)
  • Paste a URL over text for a link; text from a web page, Mail or Pages pastes as Markdown
  • Images you paste or drop, saved next to your note
  • Footnotes, Move Line and Duplicate Line
  • Pick a code block language as you type it

A preview that does more

  • GitHub-flavored Markdown, code highlighting and footnotes
  • KaTeX math and Mermaid diagrams, fully offline
  • Copy buttons on code blocks, clickable to-dos
  • Front matter shown as a small table
  • Keeps up with multi-megabyte notes while you type

Notes that link up

  • Wiki links with completion, and links that jump to a heading
  • #tags, nested ones too, with a tag tree in the sidebar
  • A live outline (⌥⌘O), backlinks and Unlinked Mentions
  • Rename or move a note and MarkdownMate offers to update its links

Find your next thought

  • Open Quickly (⌘P), with your recent notes first
  • Find in Folder (⇧⌘F) across every note, fast with thousands of files
  • A folder sidebar: create, rename, drag to move, delete
  • Bookmarked and recent folders

Your look, your way out

  • Four themes in light and dark, your font and size, zoom
  • Line numbers and typewriter scrolling
  • Export as HTML, PDF, plain text or rich text; Print
  • Copy as HTML or as Rich Text, and Share
  • Auto-save and session restore

At home on the Mac

  • Window tabs, Versions and Quick Look for images and other files
  • Services: select text in any app and make a new note from it
  • Shortcuts actions to create, append to and open notes
  • markdownmate:// links to automate notes from a script or launcher
  • Open from Finder, drop on the Dock icon, or make it the default app for .md files

A clear view of your work

See it on your Mac.

MarkdownMate on macOS: the folder sidebar and the Markdown editor with highlighting
Your folders in the sidebar, Markdown that stays readable.
MarkdownMate on macOS: the editor with the document outline open
A live outline of the note you are writing.
MarkdownMate on macOS showing a Markdown file and its live preview side by side
Write on one side, see the result on the other.

Get the app

Free on the Mac App Store.

View in Mac App Store

Free · Version 3.6 · macOS 15.6 or later · Source on GitHub

  1. Install MarkdownMate from the Mac App Store. Updates come through the App Store.
  2. Open it and choose File ▸ Open… to pick the folder that holds your notes.
  3. Nothing is imported: the files stay where they are. In iCloud Drive, the Files app on iPhone and iPad shows the same notes.

Private by default

Your notes stay on your Mac.

No account, no cloud and no telemetry. Your notes are plain Markdown in your own folders, readable by any editor, today and in decades.

MarkdownMate has no sync of its own, but any file sync works: keep the folder in iCloud Drive, Dropbox or Git, and changes from another device show up as you work.

Read the privacy policy.

Also on Ubuntu

The same notes, on both desktops.

MarkdownMate for Ubuntu opens the same folders. Free from the Launchpad PPA.

MarkdownMate for Ubuntu Ubuntu 24.04 or later