StackEdit – An In-Browser Markdown Editor for Professionals

You might not have heard about PageDown before, but you must have heard about Stack Overflow and its sister sites. Well, PageDown is the Markdown library those services use. And it is also what StackEdit is based on.

StackEdit is a full-featured modern, open-source Markdown editor and it is what is used by Stack Overflow and all its sibling sites.

You can use it to manage multiple Markdown documents when both online and offline by creating Markdown documents that you can export as PDF and HTML; share as links that can be viewed in a nice format; publish on GitHub, Google Drive, Dropbox, Gist, or any SSH server; view statics about; synchronize to the cloud (Google Drive and Dropbox); publish on Blogspot, Tumblr, and WordPress.

Regarding how it works, it is important to remember that:

  • Documents are stored in the browser’s local storage, which means they are not shared between different browsers/computers. Clearing your browser’s data may delete all your local documents.
  • Full access to Dropbox or Google Drive is required to be able to import any document in StackEdit. Imported documents are downloaded in your browser and are not transmitted to a server.

You will be greeted with welcome tutorial notes to get you up to speed with the editor when you open it for the first time. Try to follow the guides.

[mks_button size=”medium” title=”Check StackEdit Demo” style=”squared” url=”https://stackedit.io/editor” target=”_blank” bg_color=”#529b30″ txt_color=”#FFFFFF” icon=”fa-eye” icon_type=”fa” nofollow=”1″]

Features in StackEdit

  • Open-Source & Cross-Platform: StackEdit works smoothly in all modern browsers and its source code is open to contribution on GitHub.
  • An online welcome guide and usage tips here.
  • Real-time HTML preview with Scroll Link feature to bind editor and preview scrollbars.
  • Markdown Extra/GitHub-Flavored Markdown support and Prettify/Highlight.js syntax highlighting.
  • WYSIWYG control buttons.
  • Customizable User interface.
  • Support for themes and app extensions.
  • Works offline.
  • Supports synchronization to Google Drive and Dropbox.
  • One click publish on Blogger, Dropbox, Gist, GitHub, Google Drive, SSH server, Tumblr, WordPress.
  • Support for LaTeX MatJax and UML diagrams.

You can use StackEdit in your browser even when you’re offline and that is what puts it on my list of the best markdown apps in the world, period.

[mks_button size=”medium” title=”Install StackEdit on Google Chrome” style=”squared” url=”https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stackedit/iiooodelglhkcpgbajoejffhijaclcdg?hl=en” target=”_blank” bg_color=”#529b30″ txt_color=”#FFFFFF” icon=”fa-download” icon_type=”fa” nofollow=”1″]

You can also install on Linux using the following commands.

$ git clone https://github.com/benweet/stackedit
$ cd stackedit
$ npm install

To access StackEdit, open your browser to localhost:3000.

Do you have any experience with StackEdit? Or have you used something better? Let us know in the comments section below.

Divine Okoi is a cybersecurity postgrad with a passion for the open-source community. With 700+ articles covering different topics in IT, you can always trust him to inform you about the coolest tech.

Each tutorial at GeeksMint is created by a team of experienced writers so that it meets our high-quality writing standards.

2 thoughts on “StackEdit – An In-Browser Markdown Editor for Professionals”

  1. Thanks for the article. I am on ubuntu 16.04, using the current master branch of stackedit (as of may 31st 2018), running `npm install` fails:

    npm ERR! Linux 4.4.0-109-generic
    npm ERR! argv “/usr/bin/nodejs” “/usr/bin/npm” “install”
    npm ERR! node v4.2.6
    npm ERR! npm v3.5.2
    npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE

    npm ERR! [email protected] install: `node-pre-gyp install –fallback-to-build`
    npm ERR! Exit status 7
    npm ERR!
    npm ERR! Failed at the [email protected] install script ‘node-pre-gyp install –fallback-to-build’.
    […]
    Is there any particular requirements to install stackedit on ubuntu 16.04, such as the version of npm, nodejs?

    Reply

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