How to Preview Markdown in Any Editor: 16 Editors Compared

• Open preview in a tab: Ctrl+Shift+V / ⇧⌘V
• Open preview beside the editor: Ctrl+K V / ⌘K V
• Or run Markdown: Open Preview to the Side from the Command Palette.

Scrolling is synced both ways, math ($…$, $$…$$) is on by default, and ```mermaid blocks render since VS Code 1.121. Cursor, Windsurf, and other VS Code forks share the same preview. Settings, GitHub styling, PDF export, and fixes are in our complete VS Code Markdown preview guide.

Markdown files open with a live side-by-side preview. The preview controls in the editor toolbar switch between three modes:

• Split Preview (default) — source and rendered preview side by side, updating as you type.
• Open Preview — rendered view only.
• Edit Markdown — source only.

Mermaid diagrams render in the preview, with zoom controls at its top-left. Microsoft’s January 2026 update notes these features are Visual Studio 2026 only.

The built-in Markdown editor arrived in version 17.5. Use the preview button at the top-left of the editor; Microsoft’s announcement also lists Shift+F7 to open the preview on the right (later 17.x builds may differ). For Mermaid, math, and synced scrolling, install the free Markdown Editor v2 extension by Mads Kristensen: F7 cycles Source → Split → Preview, and Shift+F7 cycles back.

1. 1Open the .md file. The preview usually appears beside the source automatically.
2. 2If it doesn’t, click Editor and Preview (or Preview) in the top-right corner of the editor.
3. 3To change the default, open Settings (Ctrl+Alt+S) → Languages & Frameworks → Markdown → Preview layout.

Preview comes from the bundled JetBrains Markdown plugin. Scroll sync is on by default and math works with $…$ and $$…$$. Mermaid and PlantUML are off by default: enable the bundled Mermaid plugin under Settings → Plugins → Installed, and install PlantUML from the Markdown settings page. JetBrains describes its support as based on CommonMark and doesn’t document full GitHub Flavored Markdown, so check README-specific syntax such as alerts in our GitHub Markdown preview.

No default keyboard shortcut is documented — assign one in Settings → Keymap if you switch layouts often.

• Open preview: Ctrl+Shift+V / ⇧⌘V (markdown::OpenPreview)
• Open preview to the side: Ctrl+K V / ⌘K V (markdown::OpenPreviewToTheSide)
• Press Ctrl+Shift+V / ⇧⌘V again in the preview to return to the editor.

The shortcuts only work while a Markdown file is focused. The preview updates live and follows the cursor, and supports GitHub-style tables, task lists, footnotes, and strikethrough. Mermaid diagrams render since Zed 0.225.0. To open .md files straight into the preview, set "open_markdown_files_in_preview": true.

Zed’s Markdown docs page doesn’t cover the preview; these bindings come from Zed’s shipped default keymaps. We found no math rendering in Zed’s Markdown parser.

Xcode 27 (September 2026) added what Apple calls an “all new Markdown editor”. To see the rendered preview next to the source, activate the canvas with Editor → Canvas. Use Open As → Source Code to edit the raw Markdown.

The rendered view is new in Xcode 27. Apple doesn’t document Mermaid or math support.

• Toggle Reading view: Ctrl+E / ⌘E, or the view switcher at the top-right of the note.
• Live Preview (the default editing mode) renders formatting as you type; switch to Source mode from the status bar.
• Side by side: Ctrl/⌘-click the view switcher to open the note in Reading view in a new pane.

Obsidian supports CommonMark, GitHub Flavored Markdown, LaTeX math (MathJax), and Mermaid diagrams, plus its own wikilinks and callouts.

Typora has no separate preview — it renders Markdown inline as you type. Toggle Source Code Mode (View menu) with Ctrl+/ / ⌘/ to see the raw text. It follows GitHub Flavored Markdown and renders math (MathJax) and Mermaid, sequence, and flowchart diagrams.

Choose Markup → Preview in BBEdit (⌃⌘P). The preview window is linked to the document and updates without saving. BBEdit renders with its built-in cmark processor by default, and can use Pandoc, MultiMarkdown, Discount, cmark-gfm, or your own command if installed. Custom preview templates and CSS are supported; BBEdit doesn’t document Mermaid or math rendering.

Click the Preview icon at the right end of the editor’s path bar, then choose a new tab, a split (right or below), or your browser — or use Project → Preview. The preview refreshes on save, with an option to reload as you type, and you can style it with custom CSS. Previews are on by default for local projects.

1. 1Enable Document Preview in Settings → Configure Kate → Application → Plugins.
2. 2Open the preview with View → Tool Views → Show Preview.

The plugin shows a live preview using whatever Markdown viewer component (KPart) is installed — KDE’s markdownpart, KMarkdownWebView, or Okular’s. If the preview is blank, install one of these from your distribution’s packages. What it renders (tables, math, diagrams) depends on the component.

1. 1Install Package Control if you haven’t, then run Package Control: Install Package and choose MarkdownPreview.
2. 2Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / ⇧⌘P) and run Markdown Preview: Preview in Browser.

MarkdownPreview (by facelessuser, updated March 2026) renders in your browser using Python-Markdown offline, or GitHub’s or GitLab’s API online. It supports MathJax, and Mermaid through its SuperFences settings. It has no default shortcut; add one to your key bindings:

{ "keys": ["alt+m"], "command": "markdown_preview", "args": { "target": "browser", "parser": "markdown" } }

For auto-refresh on save, also install the LiveReload package. MarkdownLivePreview, an in-editor alternative, hasn’t been updated since 2019.

Neovim and Vim ship Markdown syntax highlighting only. Pick a plugin by how you want to see the result:

{
    'MeanderingProgrammer/render-markdown.nvim',
    dependencies = { 'nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter', 'nvim-mini/mini.nvim' },
    opts = {},
}

Toggle with :RenderMarkdown toggle, or open a rendered copy beside the source with :RenderMarkdown preview. Needs Neovim 0.9+ (0.10 recommended) and the treesitter Markdown parsers.

{
    "iamcco/markdown-preview.nvim",
    cmd = { "MarkdownPreviewToggle", "MarkdownPreview", "MarkdownPreviewStop" },
    ft = { "markdown" },
    build = function() vim.fn["mkdp#util#install"]() end,
}

Run :MarkdownPreview to open the browser preview, :MarkdownPreviewStop to close it, or :MarkdownPreviewToggle. It syncs scrolling and renders KaTeX, Mermaid, and PlantUML — but its last commit was in October 2023, so expect unfixed issues.

Another option, peek.nvim, opens a webview preview with KaTeX and Mermaid but requires Deno and has had little activity since 2024.

1. 1Open Plugins → Plugins Admin, search for Markdown Panel, tick it, and click Install.
2. 2Open a .md file and choose Plugins → MarkdownPanel → Toggle Markdown Panel.
3. 3Optional: assign a shortcut (the plugin suggests Ctrl+Shift+M) in Settings → Shortcut Mapper → Plugin commands.

Markdown Panel (actively maintained; v0.9.3, July 2026) docks a rendered view beside the editor, can follow the caret, and renders Mermaid. The older MarkdownViewer++ is still listed but hasn’t changed since 2018.

Install markdown-mode (M-x package-install RET markdown-mode RET from NonGNU ELPA or MELPA) and point it at a Markdown processor such as Pandoc or MultiMarkdown:

(use-package markdown-mode
  :ensure t
  :mode ("README\\.md\\'" . gfm-mode)
  :init (setq markdown-command "pandoc"))

• C-c C-c l — live preview in a side *eww* window, updated as you edit.
• C-c C-c p — render to a temporary file and open it in your browser.
• C-c C-c v — export to HTML and open it in your browser.

Rendering quality depends on markdown-command; use gfm-mode for GitHub-flavored files. markdown-mode highlights math syntax but doesn’t render it itself.

Neither has a Markdown preview, and none of gedit’s bundled plugins adds one. On GNOME, install Apostrophe — a Markdown editor with a live preview — or use the browser option below.

GitHub archived Atom on December 15, 2022, and it no longer receives updates (its preview was Ctrl+Shift+M). Move to VS Code, Zed, or Pulsar (the community fork) instead.