Markdown for Gmail

Write Gmail messages in Markdown, format them as you type, and convert drafts to clean rich text without leaving Gmail.

Install Markdown for Gmail from the Chrome Web Store

Free and open source. All formatting and conversion happen locally in your browser.

Highlights

• Markdown → rich text — write Markdown, then press Ctrl+Shift+M or use the right-click menu to render it inside Gmail.
• Rich text → Markdown — reverse the conversion with Ctrl+Shift+H.
• Live auto-formatting — turn headings, lists, blockquotes, emphasis, code, and dividers into formatted content as you type.
• Slash commands — type / to insert headings, lists, quotes, code blocks, tables, dividers, and notes from the keyboard.
• Editable tables and nested lists — move through table cells with Tab, add rows and columns, and indent or outdent list items with Tab / Shift+Tab.
• GitHub Flavored Markdown — tables, task lists, strikethrough, and more via Marked.
• Emoji shortcodes — type :rocket:, :heart:, and 1,000+ GitHub-style shortcodes.
• Copy threads as Markdown — export Gmail conversations as clean Markdown without signatures or duplicated quoted replies.
• Paste-friendly editing — pasted multiline content keeps its order when you format individual lines later.
• Gmail-compatible themes — choose between Default and Bold styling in the extension options.
• Custom shortcuts — replace the default Markdown conversion shortcut with your preferred modifier+key combination.

Install

Chrome Web Store

The easiest way to install the extension is from the Chrome Web Store:

Add Markdown for Gmail to Chrome

After installation, open or refresh Gmail and compose a message.

Install from source

Use this method for development or local testing:

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Open chrome://extensions in Chrome.
3. Enable Developer mode.
4. Click Load unpacked.
5. Select the repository folder.

Quick start

1. Open Gmail and start a new message.
2. Write your message using Markdown.
3. Press Ctrl+Shift+M or right-click and choose Convert Markdown to Rich Text.
4. Continue editing the formatted message normally in Gmail.

To convert formatted content back to Markdown, press Ctrl+Shift+H or use Convert HTML to Markdown from the right-click menu.

Example Markdown:

# Project update

Hi team,

- Shipped the new onboarding flow
- Fixed the billing regression
- Next: performance testing

> Launch is still scheduled for Friday.

Thanks!

Live auto-formatting

When Auto-format is enabled, Markdown syntax is converted as you type.

Type	Then press	Result
#	Space	Heading 1
##	Space	Heading 2
###	Space	Heading 3
* or -	Space	Bullet list
1.	Space	Numbered list
>	Space	Blockquote
---	Space or Enter	Horizontal rule + new line
**text**	Space	Bold
*text*	Space	Italic
~~text~~	Space	Strikethrough
`text`	Space	Inline code

To remove heading or blockquote formatting, place the cursor at the start of the line and press Backspace.

Slash commands

At the start of a compose line, type / to open the formatting menu. Keep typing to filter commands.

• Use Arrow Up and Arrow Down to change the selected command.
• Press Enter or Tab to apply it.
• Press Escape to close the menu.
• Click a command to apply it with the mouse.

Command	Result
/h1	Heading 1
/h2	Heading 2
/h3	Heading 3
/bullets	Bullet list
/numbered	Numbered list
/quote	Blockquote
/code	Code block
/table	Editable 2-column table
/divider	Horizontal rule
/note	Gray callout

Aliases such as /title, /heading, /subheading, /bullet, /ordered, /blockquote, and /codeblock are also searchable.

Lists and tables

Nested lists

• Press Tab inside a list item to nest it under the previous item.
• Press Shift+Tab to move a nested item back one level.
• List conversion preserves the current line position, including content edited after a multiline paste.

Editable tables

/table inserts a two-column table with one header row and two body rows.

• Press Tab to move to the next cell.
• Press Shift+Tab to move to the previous cell.
• Press Tab from the final cell to add a row.
• Use Add row or Add column to expand the table.
• Use Delete row or Delete column to remove content.
• Deleting the final row or column removes the table and leaves a writable line.

Table styling is designed to survive Gmail rendering without interfering with Gmail's native scheduling widgets.

Options

Open the extension icon → Options, or go to chrome://extensions → Details → Extension options.

Option	Description
Convert on Paste	Automatically convert Markdown when pasting text
GitHub flavored Markdown	Enable GFM features such as tables and task lists
Theme	Choose Default or Bold styling
Custom Shortcut	Override the default Ctrl+Shift+M shortcut
Disable default shortcut	Turn off the built-in Markdown conversion command

Themes

Default is the recommended minimal theme, with Gmail-compatible typography and subtle heading and blockquote styling.

Bold increases visual contrast with stronger, uppercase headings while keeping the same Gmail-compatible blockquote treatment.

Privacy

Markdown for Gmail performs formatting and conversion locally in the browser. It does not send email content to an external service.

The extension only requests access needed for its Gmail integration, settings, context menu, and clipboard features. See PRIVACY.md for the full privacy policy.

Gmail compatibility

Gmail sanitizes email HTML aggressively, so the extension includes formatting safeguards designed specifically for Gmail:

• Blockquotes are rendered in a Gmail-safe form so their visual styling is preserved.
• Styles are applied inline where needed instead of relying on separate style blocks Gmail may remove.
• Tests guard against unsupported layout CSS that could be stripped or interfere with Gmail UI.

Development

Requirements

• Node.js
• Chrome or Chromium for manual testing

Install dependencies

npm install

Run tests

npm test
npm run test:e2e

The test suite covers Markdown and HTML conversion, emoji replacement, themes, slash commands, keyboard navigation, nested lists, editable tables, pasted multiline content, Gmail-safe styling, and Playwright browser flows.

Visual testbed

Open test/visual-testbed.html in a browser to test formatting and conversion in a mock Gmail compose window without installing the extension.

Build a Chrome Web Store package

1. Update the version field in manifest.json.
2. Keep the version synchronized with package.json and package-lock.json.
3. Run:

npm run build:zip

This creates gmail-markdown-v<version>.zip from the runtime-file allowlist, excluding tests, development files, old archives, and node_modules.

Project structure

├── manifest.json        # Chrome Extension Manifest V3
├── background.js        # Service worker, context menus, command handling
├── contentScript.js     # Compose editor behavior and live formatting
├── threadCopy.js        # Copy Gmail threads as Markdown
├── injector.js          # Markdown → HTML conversion
├── html2md.js           # HTML → Markdown conversion
├── turndown.js          # HTML-to-Markdown converter
├── emoji.js             # 1,000+ emoji shortcode mappings
├── marked.min.js        # Bundled Marked parser
├── options.html/js/css  # Extension options page
├── themes.css           # Gmail-compatible theme styles
├── icons/               # Extension icons
└── test/                # Unit, E2E, and visual tests

License

See LICENSE.

Links

• Install from the Chrome Web Store
• Privacy policy
• Chrome Web Store release notes and listing
• Report an issue