UnmarkedOur pick
Pick Unmarked if you'd rather edit the formatted page than raw source. Tables are a grid you type into, and the same file can be presented as slides or exported to Word, equations intact. MacDown 3000, the maintained continuation of MacDown, is the pick for open source or the classic layout of source beside preview.
| Question | Unmarked | MacDown and MacDown 3000 |
|---|---|---|
| Where you edit | In the formatted page. Syntax shows at the cursor and stays hidden elsewhere | In a syntax-highlighted source pane. The live preview beside it is read-only |
| Reading | Read gives the finished page the whole window | Hide the editor and the preview fills the window. MacDown 3000 can open files that way |
| Tables | A grid you type into. Select a range, or move, align and duplicate whole rows and columns | Pipe syntax in the source. MacDown 3000 adds an Insert Table template |
| Equations | Read, Present and PDF typeset them. HTML gets MathML and .docx gets Word equations | MathJax typesets them in the preview and in exported HTML |
| Word and slides | Word export, plus slides made from your headings | HTML and PDF export. No Word export and no slides |
| Getting it | App Store download or notarized disk image. Needs macOS 15 or later | MacDown 3000 is a notarized download or Homebrew cask, for macOS 11 or later |
Where the typing happens
MacDown divides the window between raw Markdown and a rendered preview. You type on the source side and watch the preview redraw. Hide the editor and the preview fills the window, and MacDown 3000 can open files straight into that view. To change a word, though, you go back to the source.
Unmarked edits the page you're looking at. In Write, headings and emphasis take their finished look while you type and tables turn into a grid. The Markdown marks sit faded in the background and come forward at the cursor. When you want the page with no marks at all, ⌘E switches to Read.
Tables you can click into
A MacDown table is pipe characters in the source. MacDown 3000's Insert Table button drops in a starter table and puts the cursor in the first cell. After that, a new column means editing every row by hand.
In Unmarked, Write mode draws that table as a grid you can type into. Click a cell, type and Tab to the next one. New rows and columns come from the hover bars, and the grid's own controls align, duplicate, reorder or delete them. Select several cells and you can clear, replace or cut them in one go.
What's saved is an ordinary Markdown table, so the file opens in MacDown too.
Past HTML and PDF
MacDown exports HTML and PDF. Unmarked writes both, plus a Word document built from Word's own headings, tables and equations.
For slides, Present uses the H1 and H2 headings you've already written as breaks, and a horizontal rule starts a new slide wherever you want one. Press B to black out the screen mid-talk and any key to bring the slide back.
The original MacDown, and MacDown 3000
The original MacDown's last stable release, 0.7.3, came out on January 3, 2020. Homebrew has since disabled its cask because it fails Gatekeeper's check.
MacDown 3000 carries the project on. It's free, MIT-licensed, notarized and in active development, and it keeps the source-beside-preview layout MacDown users know.
Which one fits your work?
Choose Unmarked if
- You want to fix a word where you read it, not find it again in the source pane.
- Your tables change often, and editing pipes slows you down.
- The document leaves as Word, with its tables and equations intact.
- You give presentations from the same file.
Choose MacDown only if
- You need open-source software, or want to set the renderer, preview CSS and code themes yourself.
- You prefer raw source beside a preview, or your Mac runs a macOS version older than 15.