Markdown Preview

Pragtical includes a built-in Markdown Preview for rendering .md and .markdown files inside the editor. A preview opened from an editable document stays linked to it, so saved and unsaved changes appear in the rendered view as you type.

The preview supports formatted text, syntax-highlighted code blocks, tables, lists, links, footnotes, and local or remote images without requiring a plugin.

Opening a Preview

There are several ways to open a Markdown Preview:

1. Keyboard Shortcut: Open a Markdown document and press ctrl+alt+m.

2. Command Palette: Press ctrl+shift+p and select Markdown View: Preview.

3. Document Context Menu: Right-click an open Markdown document and select Preview Markdown.

4. Tree View Context Menu: Right-click a .md or .markdown file in the project tree and select Preview Markdown.

Previews opened from an editable document include unsaved changes and continue to update when the document changes. A preview opened from the Tree View is a standalone, file-backed preview that reads its initial contents from disk.

To open or return to the editable source of a standalone preview, right-click the preview and select View Raw. The source and preview are then linked, and further document changes update the preview automatically. If the source is already open, View Raw focuses it instead of opening another copy.

Supported Markdown

The preview supports the Markdown features commonly used by project documentation and README files:

• ATX (#) and Setext headings
• Paragraphs, soft and hard line breaks, and horizontal rules
• Bold, italic, bold-italic, strikethrough, and inline code
• Fenced and indented code blocks, with syntax highlighting when the language is recognized
• Ordered, unordered, nested, task, and definition lists
• Nested blockquotes
• Tables with left, center, and right column alignment
• Inline links, reference links, bare HTTP(S) URLs, email autolinks, and document anchors
• Footnote references and definitions
• Inline, standalone, linked, grouped, and table-cell images
• YAML (---), TOML (+++), and JSON (;;;) frontmatter

Block HTML comments are hidden. The preview implements this supported Markdown subset rather than acting as a general HTML renderer.

Links and Images

Clicking a link handles its destination according to its type:

• An anchor such as #installation scrolls to the matching heading or footnote in the current preview.
• A project-local Markdown file opens in another Markdown Preview.
• Another project-local file opens normally in the editor or its associated built-in viewer.
• An external URL opens with the system's default application.

Relative file and image paths are resolved from the directory containing the Markdown file. For safety, local targets are opened only when they resolve to an existing file inside the project containing the preview.

Local images use the formats supported by Pragtical's Image Viewer. Remote HTTP(S) images are downloaded to Pragtical's user cache and displayed when the build includes networking support. When networking is unavailable, remote images are not downloaded.

Hovering a link displays its destination in the status bar. The preview context menu also provides Copy Link and, for images, Copy Image Link.

Selecting and Copying Text

Drag with the mouse to select rendered text, including text inside inline or fenced code. Press ctrl+c or select Copy from the context menu to copy the selection as plain text.

Available Commands

Name	Description
markdown-view:preview	Preview the active Markdown document
markdown-view:view-raw	Open or focus the editable source for the active preview
markdown-view:copy	Copy selected rendered text
markdown-view:copy-link	Copy the link under the context menu
markdown-view:copy-image-link	Copy the image URL under the context menu
treeview:preview-markdown	Open the selected project file in a standalone preview

Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Preview the active Markdown document	ctrl+alt+m
Copy selected rendered text	ctrl+c

Configuration

The preview can open to the right, left, top, or bottom of its source document, or as another tab. The default placement is right.

User Module

Set config.markdown_preview_mode in your user module to one of "right", "left", "top", "bottom", or "newtab":

config.markdown_preview_mode = "right"

Settings UI

Open Settings and select Markdown Preview → Preview Mode, then choose Right, Left, Top, Bottom, or New Tab.

The same placement setting determines where View Raw opens the source relative to a standalone preview.

For plugin-level construction and rendering details, see the MarkdownView API documentation.