Markdown Here: Write Email in Markdown, Not HTML
/markdown-here
Markdown Here turns email formatting into typing Markdown and pressing a hotkey. It's worth installing once you already draft in Markdown and send technical email often, since the toggle-and-revert trick replaces the copy-paste-from-GitHub routine its creator built it to escape. It stops there, though. No image hosting, no draft sync, and Firefox fixes lag behind Mozilla's review queue.
What Is Markdown Here?
Markdown Here is a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Thunderbird that renders Markdown into formatted HTML inside your email compose window before you send. A right-click 'Markdown Toggle', or the SHIFT+ALT+M hotkey, converts bold text, links, and syntax-highlighted code blocks — and reverts them back to Markdown too. It also works on Google Groups, Blogger, Evernote, and WordPress, plus TeX math.
Key Features
- ✓Converts Markdown to rendered HTML directly in the compose window via a right-click 'Markdown Toggle' or the SHIFT+ALT+M hotkey.
- ✓Reverts a rendered email back to its original Markdown source with the same toggle, so you can keep editing after conversion.
- ✓Syntax-highlights fenced code blocks using highlight.js — just name the language after the triple backticks.
- ✓Supports TeX math formulae in addition to GitHub Flavored Markdown.
- ✓Converts only a selected chunk of text instead of the whole message, useful for replies that shouldn't touch quoted text.
- ✓Skips anything after a '-- ' signature marker automatically, so your sign-off isn't mangled.
- ✓Works beyond email too: Google Groups posts, Blogger, Evernote, and WordPress.
- ✓Options page lets you tweak rendering styles, pick a syntax highlighting theme, and remap the hotkey; Chrome and Firefox sync these across installs.
Installing the Extension
Chrome: install from the Chrome Web Store. Opera 16 and up: install from Opera's own add-on store, then reload your webmail tab or restart the browser — Markdown Here won't activate until you do. Firefox and Thunderbird: install from the Mozilla Add-ons site and restart the browser afterward. For a dev build, clone the repo and load the `src` directory as an unpacked extension in Chrome, or follow Mozilla's 'Your first WebExtension' instructions for Firefox and Thunderbird.
Strengths
- ✓One hotkey converts and reverts, so you're never locked into the rendered version.
- ✓Syntax highlighting works out of the box for any language highlight.js supports.
- ✓Selection conversion means you can Markdown-format a reply without touching the quoted thread.
- ✓MIT-licensed and free across all four supported browsers.
Limitations and Gotchas
- △GitHub-style special links (issue #, @mentions, etc.) aren't rendered — GFM support stops short of GitHub-specific syntax.
- △Firefox and Thunderbird updates go through Mozilla's review queue, so the README says new features and fixes lag there unless you manually install a pre-review version.
- △You have to reload your webmail tab (or restart the browser) after installing, or it silently won't trigger.
- △Hotmail and Yahoo don't auto-insert the '-- ' signature marker, so you have to add it yourself or your sign-off gets converted too.
Alternatives to Markdown Here
Frequently Asked Questions
Markdown Here is free and open source — its code is MIT-licensed, so there's no subscription or paid tier across Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Thunderbird.
Markdown Here renders GitHub Flavored Markdown plus TeX mathematical formulae, so you can mix bold text, links, and fenced code blocks with math notation in the same email. One gap: GitHub-specific special links, like issue and mention links, aren't supported.
Markdown Here works as an extension in Chrome, Firefox, Opera (version 16 and up, since it's Chromium-based), and Thunderbird. Inside the browser it renders Markdown in Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo compose windows, plus Google Groups, Blogger, Evernote, and WordPress; Thunderbird handles it natively in message composition.
Select the text you want converted, right-click it, and choose 'Markdown Toggle' — Markdown Here renders just that selection instead of the whole email. This is the way to format a reply in Hotmail or Yahoo without touching the quoted original, since those services don't wrap quotes in a blockquote.
Markdown Here can revert a rendered email back to Markdown: right-click anywhere inside the rendered text and choose 'Markdown Toggle' again to switch the compose box back to your original source. Any edits made to the rendered HTML are lost when it reverts, so finish formatting first.
Markdown Here highlights fenced code blocks using highlight.js, so naming a language after the triple backticks renders it with color-coded syntax in the sent email. The available languages match whatever highlight.js supports, which you can check on its own demo page.
The problem it solves
Writing code-heavy or formula-heavy email in a rich-text compose box means hand-building bold text, links, and <pre> blocks, or drafting in a separate Markdown editor first and pasting the rendered HTML over — the exact copy-paste loop the creator describes doing through GitHub's in-browser editor before building this extension. Markdown Here removes that middle step by rendering the Markdown inside the compose window itself.
Best use cases
- •Sending code snippets or config examples in email without hand-writing <pre> tags.
- •Replying inline to a technical email while keeping the quoted original untouched.
- •Writing formula-heavy email (physics, math, stats) using TeX instead of pasting screenshots.
- •Posting formatted replies to Google Groups or mailing-list-style threads without leaving the browser.
Who should try it — and who should skip
Try it if you write email full of code blocks, links, or TeX and already default to Markdown when you think about formatting — the toggle-and-revert workflow fits that habit exactly. Skip it if you rarely format email beyond a bold word or two, or if you need it in a browser other than Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Thunderbird, since nothing else is supported.
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