How can I export Markdown documentation to different formats?

For choice of output formats, you probably can't beat pandoc - it will convert Markdown (and many other formats) into HTML, PDF, DocBook, and a number more. Its defaults are fairly sane, but you can include your own templates easily enough if you wish. It also has support for language-specific code highlighting in blocks.


The following letters are to denote some common features:​

  • M: Mathematical formula syntax support

  • G: GitHub Flavoured Markdown

  • L: Live Preview

  • C: Syntax highlighting for code

  • E: Export to various formats

  • S: Custom Styling i.e custom CSS for HTML, etc.

  • P: Support for plugins

  • F: Free

  • D: Active development

Here they come (in no specific order):

1. Remarkable

Simple, elegant, feature-rich D F L G S P M C E(pdf, html)

2. ReText

Simple, supports both restructured text and markdown D F M P E(html, odt, pdf)

3. UberWriter

Minimal and lightweight F C M E(pdf html rtf)

5. Typora

Simple, elegant F(while in beta) D G C M L E(html pdf epub docx odt etc.)

6. Haroopad

Feature-rich, beta editor for blogging and mailing, import many formats F G L M E(html)

7. Mark My Words

Simple F D L E(pdf html)

8. Gitbook Editor

For documentation, digital writing and publishing D F G L C M E (HTML PDF epub mobi)

9. Abricotine

Editor based on web technology L F D G C E(HTML) M S

10. GhostWriter

Simple, distraction-free, robust F G D E (HTML , other formats by extensions), S

11. Caret

Minimal, robust D L G C E (PDF) M S

13. Elegant Markdown Editor (EME)

Minimal, simple D L G C E (PDF) M

14. Plugins

The following are plugins available for various IDEs and editors. Some have plugins to convert to HTML or PDF. Check them out.

  • Atom

  • Vim: Instant-Markdown Plugin

  • Bracket: MarkdownPreview Plugin

  • Sublime Text: Markdown Plugin

  • GNU Emacs

  • Visual Studio Code

  • Notepadqq

  • Jetbrains IDEs: Markdown Navigator

  • Qownnotes


Just to complement the previous answers:

I found this online Markdown-to-PDF converter. But there are some downsides to using online services. Not only can they taint the PDF (free lunch?), but they also won't incorporate local images into your document.

Here's an offline Markdown-to-PDF converter called Gimli, but it runs on Ruby.

There's also another offline converter MultiMarkdown to PDF, but it uses Windows instead.