This plugin hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress.

WP-Markdown

Description

This plugin allows you to write posts (of any post type) using the Markdown syntax. The plugin converts the Markdown into HTML prior to saving the post. When editing a post, the plugin converts it back into Markdown syntax.

The plugin also allows you to enable Markdown in comments and bbPress forums. In these instances the plugin adds a toolbar, and preview of the processed Markdown with Prettify syntax highlighter applied (similiar to that used in the Stack Exchange websites such as WordPress Stack Exchange).

WP-Markdown stores the processed HTML, so deactivating the plugin will not affect your posts, comments or bbPress forums.

Screenshots

Installation

Installation is standard and straight forward.

  1. Upload wp-markdown folder (and all its contents) to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
  3. Go to your Settings > Writing page and enable Markdown for the appropriate post types and comments.

FAQ

Installation Instructions

Installation is standard and straight forward.

  1. Upload wp-markdown folder (and all its contents) to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.
  3. Go to your Settings > Writing page and enable Markdown for the appropriate post types and comments.
How do I use Markdown syntax?

For information on how to use Markdown syntax, please read: Markdown: syntax.

What happens to the post content if I uninstall the plugin?

The plugin uses Markdown to generate the appropriate HTML prior to the post saving to the database. When you edit a post, it is converted back to Markdown syntax.
Once the plugin is uninstalled you’ll simply revert to editing the posts’ HTML.

How do I embed content?

A clean install of WordPress allows you to (for example) include a YouTube url on a separate line, whereupon it will automatically embed the video. This is not possible with WP-Markdown installed (*I tried – I broke more things. But if you manage it, feel free to make a pull-request: https://github.com/stephenharris/WP-MarkDown*).

You’ll need to use the [embed] shortcode.

How do I prevent a bit of the page being parsed as Markdown?

Enclose it in a div tag. It’ll be ignored.

How do I allow the contents of a `div` tag to be parsed as Markdown?

Use <div markdown="1">.

Reviews

Jeddi 22, 2022 1 reply
Updating site to PHP 8.1 and Wordpress to 6.1.1 and this plugin is causing errors: htdocs/wp-content/plugins/wp-markdown/markdown-extra.php. Error message: Array and string offset access syntax with curly braces is no longer supported Luckily all of the posts that were using this plugin are still fine (since they’ve are migrated to use WP syntax at the time of writing). But I won’t be able to edit them as markdown or post new posts as markdown. Time to look for a new markdown support plugin
Háset 22, 2020
Was amazed it even features a wysiwyg comparison preview in real time. Beautiful just beautiful piece of plugin. Too bad it seems abandoned, it will be a scary ride to update my WordPress version in the long run.
Háset 8, 2019
With WP 5.2 it generates errors of the form: Warning: “continue” targeting switch is equivalent to “break”. Did you mean to use “continue 2”? in /public_html/wp-content/plugins/wp-markdown/markdownify/markdownify.php on line 299 Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /public_html/wp-content/plugins/wp-markdown/markdownify/markdownify.php:299) in /public_html/wp-admin/includes/misc.php on line 1196
Súmbile 9, 2017
Just what I need for my not-so-technical members! Thank you!
Miyzan 3, 2016
Version 1.5.1 of the plugin works almost perfectly. I’m just waiting for the upcoming 1.6 update (which is in alpha on GitHub) to be pushed, so I can use GitHub Flavor-style codeblocks specifying the exact language.
Read all 28 reviews

Contributors & Developers

“WP-Markdown” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Translate “WP-Markdown” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

1.6.1 – 27th December 2017

  • Remove test files from final build
  • Removed readme.txt in favour of readme.md

1.6 – 25th December 2017

  • Fixed PHP7 deprecation notices
  • Load prettify.js in the footer (See #60 )
  • Ensure the toolbar javascript runs as late as possible. Fixes conflict with Shortcoder which calls Qtags late on and destroys the markdown toolbar. Fixes #53.
  • Update markdown extra version. Thanks to @lite3. Closes #43.
  • By default balance tags before HTML is converted to markdown. (Adds filter to prevent this behaviour). See #47.

1.5.1

  • Addresses issues with (since withdrawn) 1.5.0 version.

1.5

  • Handle tables. See #35.
  • Fix responsive layout issue. See #31.
  • Use compressed prettify.js.
  • Fix bug with lists not being escaped.
  • Fix textdomain. Change to ‘wp-markdown’.
  • Add language file.
  • Fix incompatability issues with bbPress.

1.4

  • Fix issue with consecutive shortcodes.
  • Fix editing bbPress topics/replies on the front-end corrupts Markdown. See #25.

1.3

  • Apply kses and balance tags after MD->HTML conversion. See#23.
  • Compress scripts and minify icon sprite. See #7.
  • Add ‘more’ tag to Markdown editor.
  • Add support for iframes. See #22.
  • Fix bug with underscores in shortcodes.
  • Add support for tbody, tfoot and thead tags.
  • Refactoring including renaming of plugin style and script handles.

1.2

  • Fix problems with images nested inside links. See #12.
  • Ensure prettify is loaded, if needed, on home page. See #6.
  • Update Markdownify.
  • Update Prettify.

1.1.6

  • Remove the wpautop/unwpautop functions. If using oEmbed, use embed shortcodes.
  • Add public wrapper functions.
  • Remove bbPress front-end TinyMCE editor if using Markdown.

1.1.5

  • Fix bug introduced in 1.1.4 where line breaks are stripped (affects code blocks).

1.1.4

  • Fix bug where oEmbed would not work. Thanks to Michael & Vinicius.
  • Add a filter for Markdown ‘help’ text: wpmarkdown_help_text.
  • Support for Markdown Extra (currently not supported in pagedown previewer).

1.1.3

  • Stable with WordPress 3.4.
  • Fix bug relating title attributes for links and images.

1.1.2

  • Fix bug relating to comments by logged out users.

1.1.1

  • Fix backslash bug.

1.1

  • Add option to replace TinyMCE with Markdown help bar on post editor.

1.0

  • Initial release.