Typora is a minimal yet powerful markdown editor and reader that’s designed to be both approachable and natural for both newcomers and professionals. Typora is an excellent Markdown editor and reader if you’re writing essays, reports, or other documents in Markdown format.
As a writer, I prefer the live preview model of Typora over traditional two-pane Markdown editors. In the latter case, you have to switch between editing Markdown and viewing its rendered version. With live preview, you can type from within one window, and see the results appear in real time. What sets it apart from other editors, however, is how it hides all those annoying syntax symbols once they’re typed in.
Typora generally follows the GitHub Flavored Markdown specification. However, some small incompatibilities might remain.
In terms of core Markdown support, we’ll take a look at what Typora supports and what it doesn’t, as well as any conditions on specific features:
Headings
Bold, italic, blockquotes
Ordered lists (numbered)
Unordered lists (bulleted)
Code
Horizontal rules (--- or ***, etc.)
Links
Strikethrough
Task Lists
Emoji (both by copy-paste and shortcodes)
Definition lists are not supported.
Paragraphs require only one Return key press by default, although this option can be changed via the Preferences dialog.
Highlighting is also supported, but must be enabled via Preferences > Markdown > Syntax Support
Typora’s Extended Markdown Capabilities
There are many Markdown extensions available; here’s what Typora supports:
Fenced code blocks only (not original code block style)
Language identifier after fence (used for syntax highlighting)
LaTeX math via MathJax in “Math Blocks”
Tables with left/right/center alignment via colon placement
Source generated automatically
Footnotes
YAML front matter
TOC
Callouts/GitHub Style Alerts
Subscript
Superscript
Inline math
HTML underlines
Embedded contents
Video
Note that diagram extensions must be enabled via the Preferences Panel > Markdown section
Strict Mode
Strict mode allows you to enforce syntax limitations on things like headings, ordered lists, and unordered lists.
Organizing and Navigating Your Document
Typora has a file tree panel which will allow you to view your files. If you’re working with articles, there’s a side panel that will list them all. An outline panel shows the structure of the document automatically, allowing you to jump to any given section with just a click.
Customizing Typora
You can customize Typora with custom CSS to define font sizes, alignments, auto-numbering headers, and more. The themes are fully configurable via CSS.
Typora also auto-pairs Markdown symbols such as * or _, and allows users to resize tables by dragging with their mouse.
Export Options
When finished, Typora provides a wide variety of export options.
A reported limitation surrounds complex LaTeX usage, where placing the cursor inside a complex LaTeX block does not work properly.