md0.io has two editors for writing and editing markdown. The Markdown Editor and the Live Editor take different approaches to the same task. Knowing which one suits your workflow saves time.
Standard Editor vs Live Editor
The Markdown Editor uses a split-pane layout. The left pane shows raw markdown source. The right pane shows the rendered preview. Both panes update as you type. This is the traditional approach and gives you full visibility into the syntax you are writing.
The Live Editor uses an inline editing mode. Instead of a separate source pane, you see and interact with the formatted output directly. When you click on a heading, you edit it as a heading. When you click a paragraph, you edit that paragraph inline. The markdown syntax stays hidden unless you need to inspect it.
Both editors produce valid markdown output. The difference is in how you interact with it while writing.
When to Use the Live Editor
The Live Editor suits a few specific situations:
- You are less comfortable with raw markdown syntax and prefer to see formatted output as you write.
- You are making quick edits to an existing document and want to see the final result immediately, without mentally parsing the raw source.
- You are writing prose-heavy content where the formatting is simple and the focus is on words rather than structure.
- You want to share writing with someone who finds the split-pane view unfamiliar.
When to Use the Standard Editor Instead
The Live Editor works well for straightforward content, but the standard Markdown Editor gives more control for complex documents:
- Tables with many columns or nested content are easier to edit in the raw source view.
- Nested lists beyond two levels can behave unexpectedly in inline editing mode.
- Fenced code blocks with language specifiers and syntax highlighting are easier to manage in the source pane.
- If you need to inspect or edit the raw markdown directly, for example to check for formatting inconsistencies or fix escaped characters, the standard editor makes that easier.
Features
The Live Editor includes:
- Heading formatting: Select text and apply H1 through H4 headings from the toolbar.
- Bold and italic: Toolbar buttons and keyboard shortcuts apply inline formatting to selected text.
- Link insertion: A link dialog accepts the URL and link text, inserting proper
[text](url)syntax in the underlying markdown. - Image references: Insert images with alt text via the toolbar. The image URL is entered directly.
- Lists: Create ordered and unordered lists using toolbar buttons or by typing
-or1.at the start of a line. - Blockquotes: Insert a blockquote with the toolbar or by typing
>at the start of a line.
Auto-Save
The Live Editor saves your content to browser localStorage automatically as you type. If you close the tab, the content is restored the next time you open the Live Editor at /live-editor.
Auto-save is per-tool. Content saved in the Live Editor is stored separately from content in the Markdown Editor or WYSIWYG Editor.
To clear saved content, delete the text in the editor manually or clear site data for md0.io through your browser settings.
Keyboard Shortcuts
The same shortcuts that work in the standard editor work in the Live Editor:
| Action | Windows / Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Bold | Ctrl+B | Cmd+B |
| Italic | Ctrl+I | Cmd+I |
| Insert link | Ctrl+K | Cmd+K |
Exporting from the Live Editor
The Live Editor supports the same export options as the standard editor:
- Copy to clipboard: Copies the raw markdown source.
- Download as .md: Saves the markdown source as a file.
- Convert: Paste the markdown into any of the converter tools (to-html, to-pdf, to-docx) for other output formats.
See Export Options for details on every format available across md0 tools.