# Exploring Markdown export capabilities

Welcome to this demonstration of our editor's ability to export content to Markdown,

ensuring that your content retains its intended appearance.

## Text styles

This document showcases a variety of text styles:

- **Bold** text is used to emphasize strong points.
- _Italic_ text adds subtle emphasis or indicates titles.
- Underlined text highlights key information.
- ~~Strikethrough~~ text shows corrections or deletions.

## Alignment styling

Left Aligned: Text starts from the left margin.

Centered: Text is centered between the margins.

Right Aligned: Text ends at the right margin.

## Table example

Tables are a great way to organize information:

| Feature | Description | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bold | Emphasizes strong points | Bold text |
| Italic | Adds subtle emphasis | Italic text |

## Install the Markdown Export extension

The Conversion extensions are published in Tiptap's private npm registry. Integrate the extensions by following the [private registry guide](/content/docs/guides/pro-extensions/index.html).

Once done you can install and import the **Export Markdown** extension package.

```
npm i @tiptap-pro/extension-export-markdown
```

### Required peer dependency

This extension requires the `@tiptap/markdown` extension to be installed and configured in your
editor. The `@tiptap/markdown` extension provides the serialization logic used to convert editor
content to Markdown.

```
npm i @tiptap/markdown
```

```
import { ExportMarkdown } from '@tiptap-pro/extension-export-markdown'
```

## Configuring the extension

The `ExportMarkdown` extension can be configured with an `ExportMarkdownOptions` (`object`) as an argument to the `configure` method with the following properties:

```
import { Markdown } from '@tiptap/markdown'
import { ExportMarkdown } from '@tiptap-pro/extension-export-markdown'

const editor = new Editor({
  extensions: [
    // Other extensions ...
    Markdown,
    ExportMarkdown.configure({
      onCompleteExport: (result) => {
        // Handle the exported Markdown string
      },
    }),
    // Other extensions ...
  ],
})
```

| Parameter | Type | Description | Default |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `onCompleteExport` | `(result: string) => void` | Callback that receives the exported Markdown content as a string | Throws error if not provided |

## Export a Markdown file

With the extension installed, you can export your editor's content to `.md` using the `exportMarkdown` command.

```
/**
 * Export the current document as a Markdown string.
 *
 * Requires the @tiptap/markdown extension to be installed and
 * configured in the editor for serialization to work.
 *
 * @param options.onCompleteExport - Optional callback to override the extension-level handler
 * @example editor.commands.exportMarkdown({ onCompleteExport: (markdown) => console.log(markdown) })
 */
exportMarkdown: (options?: ExportMarkdownCommandOptions) => ReturnType
```

The `ExportMarkdownCommandOptions` interface:

| Property | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `onCompleteExport` | `(result: string) => void` | Optional per-invocation callback that overrides the extension-level `onCompleteExport` |

```
import { Markdown } from '@tiptap/markdown'
import { ExportMarkdown } from '@tiptap-pro/extension-export-markdown'

const editor = new Editor({
  extensions: [
    // Other extensions ...
    Markdown,
    ExportMarkdown.configure({
      onCompleteExport(result) {
        // Download the Markdown file
        const blob = new Blob([result], { type: 'text/markdown' })
        const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob)
        const a = document.createElement('a')

a.href = url
        a.download = 'document.md'
        a.click()

URL.revokeObjectURL(url)
      },
    }),
    // Other extensions ...
  ],
})

// Use the extension-level callback
editor.chain().exportMarkdown().run()

// Or override the callback for a specific export
editor
  .chain()
  .exportMarkdown({
    onCompleteExport(result) {
      // Custom handling, e.g. copy to clipboard
      navigator.clipboard.writeText(result)
    },
  })
  .run()
```

### How it works

When you call `exportMarkdown`, the extension uses the `@tiptap/markdown` extension's `getMarkdown()` method to serialize the editor's content locally. No data is sent to any external service. The `onCompleteExport` callback receives the Markdown string directly, which you can then download as a `.md` file, copy to clipboard, or process as needed.

## What to expect

- **No authentication required.** The export runs entirely in the browser. No JWT, no App ID, no API call.
- **Synchronous result delivery.** The `onCompleteExport` callback receives the Markdown string directly.
- **CommonMark output by default**, plus a few non-standard syntaxes for underline (`++text++`) and highlight (`==text==`).

## What not to expect

- **Lossless conversion.** Markdown has no syntax for font colors, font sizes, page layout, complex table cell formatting, or document metadata. Anything that doesn't map to CommonMark is dropped — see the table below.
- **Round-trip identity.** Re-importing the exported Markdown will produce a simplified document; styling and layout that didn't survive the export won't reappear.

## Support & Limitations

Markdown export converts Tiptap content to CommonMark-compatible Markdown. The supported features are determined by what Markdown syntax can represent. Unlike DOCX, Markdown has no concept of rich styling, page layout, or complex table formatting.

| **Feature** | **Support** |
| --- | --- |
| **Text content** | ✓ Paragraphs, headings (1–6), hard breaks |
| **Inline formatting** | ✓ Bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code |
| **Block elements** | ✓ Blockquotes, code blocks (fenced with language), horizontal rules |
| **Lists** | ✓ Bullet lists, ordered lists, task lists, nested lists |
| **Tables** | ✓ Basic pipe-syntax tables (single header row, no merged cells) |
| **Links** | ✓ Hyperlinks with text and URL |
| **Images** | ✓ Image references with alt text (no dimensions) |
| **Underline** | ✓ Custom syntax (`++text++`, non-standard) |
| **Highlight** | ✓ Custom syntax (`==text==`, non-standard) |
| **Text color / Font** | ✗ No Markdown syntax for colors, font family, or font size |
| **Text alignment** | ✗ No Markdown syntax |
| **Spacing / Indentation** | ✗ No Markdown syntax |
| **Merged cells** | ✗ Markdown tables don't support colspan or rowspan |
| **Headers & Footers** | ✗ No concept in Markdown |
| **Page layout** | ✗ No page breaks, sections, or page size |
| **Math** | ~ Extension-dependent (`$...$` syntax if math extension is configured) |
| **Footnotes & Endnotes** | ✗ Not supported in CommonMark |

For the full feature comparison across all formats, see the [Supported features](/content/docs/conversion/getting-started/feature-support-matrix/index.html) matrix.