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You can add Markdown formatting elements to a plaintext file using a text editor application. The screenshot below shows a Markdown file displayed in the Visual Studio Code text editor. It may take a while to get used to seeing Markdown syntax in your text, especially if you’re accustomed to WYSIWYG applications. Or to make a phrase bold, you add two asterisks before and after it (e.g., **this text is bold**).
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When you create a Markdown-formatted file, you add Markdown syntax to the text to indicate which words and phrases should look different.įor example, to denote a heading, you add a number sign before it (e.g., # Heading One). In an application like Microsoft Word, you click buttons to format words and phrases, and the changes are visible immediately. Using Markdown is different than using a WYSIWYG editor. Created by John Gruber in 2004, Markdown is now one of the world’s most popular markup languages. Markdown is a lightweight markup language that you can use to add formatting elements to plaintext text documents.
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