Visual Studio Code is a source code editor. It is extensible, free, open-source, and cross-platform. It owes much of its success to its active community of extension developers. Whenever it lacks a certain feature, there is usually an extension to fix that shortcoming. Its out-of-the-box Markdown support includes:
- CommonMark support
- Syntax highlighting
- Preview
- Autocompletion
- Themes
- Code style
It does not support WYSIWIG editing. While Visual Studio Code does not come with out-of-the-box ability to export Markdown to any other formats, it can copy Markdown code with syntax coloring intact.
Markdown extensions available in the Visual Studio marketplace extend it with the following features:
- Extended syntax (e.g. “Markdown Extended”)
- Markdown code formatting (e.g. “Prettier - Code formatter”)
- Exporting to other formats (e.g. “Markdown Preview Enhanced”)
- UI elements (e.g. “Markdown Shortcuts”)
- Extended markdown syntax highlighting (e.g. “One Dark Pro”)
- Linting (e.g. “markdownlint”) – It is a feature for developers but a huge annoyance for ordinary writers
- Style-compliance kits for different services (e.g. “Docs Authoring Pack” for Microsoft Docs)
- Spelling check (e.g. “Code Spell Checker”)
VS Code Markdown Support
VS Code provides support for the following Markdown elements.
| Element | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Headings | Yes | |
| Paragraphs | Yes | |
| Line Breaks | Yes | |
| Bold | Yes | |
| Italic | Yes | |
| Blockquotes | Yes | |
| Ordered Lists | Yes | |
| Unordered Lists | Yes | |
| Code | Yes | |
| Horizontal Rules | Yes | |
| Links | Yes | |
| Images | Yes | Image display in preview is subject to content security policy, adjustable from the drop-down menu to the top-right |
| Tables | Yes | |
| Fenced Code Blocks | Yes | |
| Syntax Highlighting | Yes | |
| Footnotes | Partial | In code editor only. Comprehensive support requires the Markdown Preview Enhanced extension. |
| Heading IDs | Partial | Does not support custom IDs. Comprehensive support requires the Markdown Preview Enhanced extension. |
| Definition Lists | Partial | Requires the Markdown Preview Enhanced extension. |
| Strikethrough | Partial | Two tildes (~~word~~) only. |
| Task Lists | Partial | One of the many readily available extensions can add this feature, e.g. Markdown Preview Enhanced. |
| Emoji (copy and paste) | Yes | |
| Emoji (shortcodes) | Partial | Requires the Markdown Preview Enhanced extension. |
| Highlight | No | |
| Subscript | No | |
| Superscript | No | |
| Automatic URL Linking | Yes | |
| Disabling Automatic URL Linking | Yes | |
| HTML | Yes |
See Also
Take your Markdown skills to the next level.
Learn Markdown in 60 pages. Designed for both novices and experts, The Markdown Guide book is a comprehensive reference that has everything you need to get started and master Markdown syntax.
Get the BookWant to learn more Markdown?
Don't stop now! 🚀 Star the GitHub repository and then enter your email address below to receive new Markdown tutorials via email. No spam!