Markdown in outlook

Since Outlook uses Word as an email editor (Outlook 2007, Outlook 2003 can be configured to use Word) you could use the AutoCorrect feature to apply simple formatting to your email. __text__ will trigger italic and **bold** will trigger bold. List can be created automatically when typing - or 1.

Another option might be to run a VBA macro on sending the email which converts the Markdown formatting to (X)HTML.

I've taken to running Markdown Pro on my Mac and pasting the preview pane results into the message. Painful but workable.

There is a similar editor, MarkdownPad, for Windows, but I have not tried it.

For future visitors: https://github.com/mmanela/MarkdownOutlook

Per their wiki:

A simple plugin for Outlook 2013 which adds a button to the compose mail menu to enable Markdown mode. When enabled your email will be turned from Markdown syntax to html when sending.

• Uses MarkdownSharp for the markdown conversion
• Uses VSTO to integrate with Outlook
• Uses an Installer Project to build an installer

I haven't been able to find an editor BUT you can write your email where I'm typing now which will show you the result in the preview pane. (including code snippets)

You can then copy the result from the preview pane into outlook (I've tried thunderbird too and it works)

If at first your code doesnt render nicely (ie colour coded) then ensure you are editing in the 'Ask Question' editor (not in the Your Answer section) - this made a difference for me.