Markdown Syntax Cheat Sheet: Every Element You Need

This Markdown syntax cheat sheet covers everything from basic formatting to advanced elements. Use it as a daily reference or when you’re converting documents with WordToMD and need to clean up the output.

Text Formatting

**Bold text**
*Italic text*
***Bold and italic***
~~Strikethrough~~
`Inline code`

Headings

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3
#### Heading 4
##### Heading 5
###### Heading 6

Full reference: Markdown Headings Guide

Paragraphs and Line Breaks

First paragraph.

Second paragraph (blank line separates paragraphs).

First line  
Second line (two trailing spaces create a line break)

Lists

Unordered List

- Item one
- Item two
  - Nested item (indent 2 spaces)
  - Another nested item
- Item three

Also valid: * or + instead of -

Ordered List

1. First item
2. Second item
   1. Nested item
3. Third item

Task List (GFM)

- [x] Completed task
- [ ] Pending task
- [ ] Another pending task

Links

[Link text](https://example.com)
[Link with title](https://example.com "Hover title")
[Reference link][ref-id]

[ref-id]: https://example.com "Optional title"

Bare URL: https://example.com (GFM auto-links)

Images

![Alt text](image.png)
![Alt text](image.png "Optional title")
![Reference image][img-id]

[img-id]: /path/to/image.png "Optional title"

Blockquotes

> Single blockquote

> Multi-line blockquote
> continues on the next line

> Nested blockquote
> > Inner level

Code

Inline Code

Use `console.log()` to debug.

Fenced Code Block

```javascript
const x = 42;
console.log(x);
```

Code Block with No Language

```
Plain preformatted text
no syntax highlighting
```

Full reference: Markdown Code Blocks Guide

Tables (GFM)

| Header 1 | Header 2 | Header 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Cell | Cell | Cell |
| Cell | Cell | Cell |

Column Alignment

| Left | Center | Right |
|:---|:---:|---:|
| text | text | text |

Full reference: Markdown Tables: A Complete Guide

Horizontal Rules

---
***
___

(Three or more hyphens, asterisks, or underscores)

HTML in Markdown

Raw HTML is allowed in most Markdown processors:

<details>
<summary>Click to expand</summary>

Hidden content here.

</details>

^Superscript <sup>text</sup>
_Subscript <sub>text</sub>

Escaping Special Characters

Use a backslash to escape Markdown characters:

\*Not italic\*
\# Not a heading
\| Not a table cell

Characters that can be escaped: \ * _ {} [] () # + - . ! |

Footnotes (Extended Markdown)

This claim needs a source.[^1]

[^1]: Here is the footnote text.

Not supported on GitHub, but supported in Pandoc and MultiMarkdown.

Definition Lists (Extended Markdown)

Term
: Definition of the term

Another Term
: First definition
: Second definition

Supported in Pandoc Markdown and some static site generators.

Emoji (GFM)

:smile: :rocket: :warning: :check:

GitHub and many Markdown platforms support emoji shortcodes.

Frontmatter (YAML)

Used by static site generators and Obsidian:

---
title: "Document Title"
date: 2026-05-29
tags: [markdown, reference]
draft: false
---

Must be the first thing in the file, before any content.

Platform-Specific Extensions

Quick Reference Card

Converting Word to Markdown

Have documents in Word format? WordToMD converts .docx to Markdown instantly — no upload, no account, completely free. The output follows GFM syntax that works on GitHub, Obsidian, Notion, and all major platforms.

See also:

• What Is Markdown? — For absolute beginners
• Markdown Headings Guide
• Markdown Tables: A Complete Guide
• Markdown Code Blocks Guide