iA Writer Pro Help — MultiMarkdown formatting reference

Markdown formatting

iA Writer Pro uses punctuation symbols to indicate formatting. This text is subtly formatted as you write via Auto Markdown, and the formatting can be previewed and exported. For more information see this help topic: Formatting in iA Writer Pro.

Open iA Writer Pro

Headings (“# ”):

# Heading
## Sub-heading… (up to 6 # characters)

Numbered Lists (“1. ”):

1. Ordered list item
8. The number used is not important
1.1. A nested list item…

Bulleted Lists (“* ” etc.):

* Unordered list item
- You can also use - or +
** A nested list item…

Inline Formatting:

*Asterisks* or _underscores_ for emphasis (=italic).
Two **asterisks** or __underscores__ for strong (=bold).
~~Double tildes~~ for strikethrough.
`Backticks` for code (other inline formatting in code is not exported).

Links:

Inline link: [iA Writer Pro’s website](http://www.writer.pro/)
Reference link: [iA Writer Pro’s website][wp]. The reference link URL can be at the end of the document, for example:

[wp]: http://www.writer.pro/

Footnotes:

A footnote has a caret and number[^1]. Then add the URL like a reference link, for example:

[^1]: The number is not important.

Images:

Image: ![iA Writer Pro’s logo](http://www.writer.pro/logo.png)
Reference link image: ![iA Writer Pro’s logo][logo]. The image URL can be at the end of the document, for example:

[logo]: http://www.writer.pro/logo.png

Blockquotes (“> ”):

> A blockquote
>> A nested blockquote

Code Blocks:

    A code block (four spaces or a tab at the start of a line).
        Formatting in space-indented code blocks is *ignored*.

Fenced Code Blocks:

```
A fenced code block begins _and_ ends with triple backticks.
```

Horizontal Rules:

Any combination of three or more asterisks or hyphens, with optional spaces, on a line. For example:
* * *
---------------

For keyboard shortcuts to apply formatting, please see this help topic: Keyboard Shortcuts

iA Writer Pro’s formatting is based on MultiMarkdown, which includes syntax for tables and more. Please read our knowledge base article Markdown syntax reference guide for more detail on the formatting iA Writer Pro supports.

Differences with Markdown

iA Writer Pro’s default formatting (Writer flavored Markdown) includes some minor changes:

Only a single return is needed between paragraphs.
Nested list items can use additional list characters (** list item), rather than tab indentation ( * list item), although tab indentation is also supported.
Improved footnote HTML output

You can turn these Writer Flavored changes to MultiMarkdown on and off with the following URL Scheme links:

Use Writer Flavored MultiMarkdown (default):
writerpro://set?writer-flavored-markdown=true
Use standard MultiMarkdown:
writerpro://set?writer-flavored-markdown=false

While we recommend using double-tildes, you can use hyphens for strikethrough (as in iA Writer Pro v1.0) via the following URL Scheme links:
(Note that this can cause issues with some other syntax that uses hyphens, such as lists.)

Disable hyphens for strikethrough (default)
writerpro://set?writer-flavored-strikethrough=false
Use hyphens for strkethrough
writerpro://set?writer-flavored-strikethrough=true

Please restart iA Writer Pro after changing these settings.