MarkdownPanel for Notepad++

Plugin to preview Markdown files in Notepad++

• lightweight plugin to preview markdown within Notepad++
• displaying rendered markdown HTML with WebView2 Edge (since 0.9.0) or an embedded IE11
• can save rendered html to a file
• Dark mode support (requires Notepad++ version 8.4.1 or later)

Current Version

The current version is 0.9.1 it can be found here

Prerequisites

• .NET 4.7.2 or higher

Installation

Installation in Notepad++

The plugin can be installed with the Notepad++ Plugin Admin. The name of the plugin is Markdown Panel.

Manual Installation

Create the folder "NppMarkdownPanel" in your Notepad++ plugin folder (e.g. "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins") and extract the appropriate zip (x86 or x64) to it.

It should look like this:

Issues with manual installation: Windows blocks downloaded DLLs by default. That means you likely get the following error message:

Failed to load <br> NppMarkdownPanel.dll is not compatible with the current version of Notepad++

Make sure to unblock all DLLs of the plugin (also DLLs in subfolders).

For an detailed explanation check issue 57.

Note for Windows 7 users: WebView2 Edge is required for the plugin to function properly. Windows 7 does not include WebView2 Edge by default, so you must manually install the WebView2 Runtime from Microsoft's WebView2 download page before using the plugin. https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview2?form=MA13LH#download

Usage

After the installation you will find a small purple markdown icon in your toolbar. Just click it to show the markdown preview. Click again to hide the preview. Thats all you need to do ;)

With dark mode enabled in Notepad++:

Settings

To open the settings for this plugin: Plugins -> MarkdownPanel -> Settings

• HTML Rendering Engine

  This option allows you to switch between two HTML Rendering Engines.

  1. Edge (WebView2)
  2. Internet Explorer 11 (WebView1)

  Default option is Edge (WebView2). It is a modern browser implementation based on Chromium and it supports modern web standards. IE11 option is still available, but not recommended anymore due to its age.

  

• CSS File

  This allows you to select a CSS file to use if you don't want the default style of the preview

• Dark mode CSS File

  This allows you to select a Dark mode CSS file. When the Notepad++ dark mode is enabled, this Css file is used. When no file is set, the default dark mode Css is used.

• Zoom Level

  This allows you to set the zoom level of the preview

• Automatic HTML Output

  This allows you to select a file to save the rendered HTML to every time the preview is rendered. This is a way to automatically save the rendered content to use elsewhere. Leaving this empty disables the automatic saving.
  Note: This is a global setting, so all previewed documents will save to the same file.

• Allow all file extensions

  This option allows you to skip file extension checking. Every active file will be processed by the markdown converter. But be careful, this option may have undesired effects. (e.g. rendering large logs or large source code files can be slow) The input field for supported file extensions is disabled when this option is checked.

• Supported File Extensions

  This allows you to define a list of file extensions, which are supported and displayed in Markdown Panel. Other file type won't be displayed (there will be a warning). The file extensions have to be separated by a comma , - character. No input allowed when option "Allow all file extensions" is checked.

• Enable preview for files without extension

  When this option is checked, Markdown Panel renders files without an extension (eg. "new 2").

• Automatically show panel for supported files

  When this option is checked, Markdown Panel will open the preview window automatically for files with a supported extension. The preview will be closed for files with no supported extension.

• Show Toolbar in Preview Window

  Checking this box will enable the toolbar in the preview window. By default, this is unchecked.

• Show Statusbar in Preview Window (Preview Links)

  Checking this box will show the status bar, which previews urls for links. By default, this is unchecked.

Preview Window Toolbar

• Save As... ()

  Clicking this button allows you to save the rendered preview as an HTML document.

• Save As (with Light Theme)

  Saves the rendered preview as an HTML document using the light theme (even if the darkmode is enabled).

• Copy to clipboard

  Copies the current preview to the clipboard (formatted in HTML).

Synchronize viewer with caret position

Enabling this in the plugin's menu (Plugins -> MarkdownPanel) makes the preview panel stay in sync with the caret in the markdown document that is being edited.
This is similar to the Synchronize Vertical Scrolling option of Notepad++ for keeping two open editing panels scrolling together.

Synchronize with first visible line in editor

When this option is enabled, the plugin ensures that the first visible line in the editor is also visible in the preview. (This is an alternative to Synchronize viewer with caret position)

Shortcut to toggle Panel

It is possible to toggle the Panel with a shortcut. Therefore the Notepad++ "Shortcut Mapper" can be used. The Shortcut Mapper can be opened by "Settings" -> "Shortcut Mapper..." and switch to the tab "Plugin commands". Than bind a shortcut (eg. CTRL + SHIFT + M) to the command "Toggle Markdown Panel". After that it's possible to use the shortcut to open or close the panel.

Version History

Version 0.9.1 (released 2026-01-19)

• Features

  • Preserve preview scroll position when switching to another file #96
  • Support (preview) files without an extension #133
  • Copy to clipboard as formatted text / HTML #128
  • "Save As.." function that always uses the light theme #126
  • Text Callouts #141

• Bug fixes

  • Fixed: Undocking the main (preview) window eventually freezes NPP++ #106
  • Fixed: Markdown preview is not visualized if file extension is changed with MD panel open #107
  • Fixed: CoreWebView2 uninitialized exception on startup with unsaved backup file #139
  • Fixed: Memory Leak in plugin. #144
  • Fixed: Table cells display as individual squares with spacing in Markdown Panel #136, (contributed by BdR76) #142
  • Remove build dependency on .NET 3.5 tools (contributed by rdipardo) #145
  • Fix memory layout of ScNotificationHeader (contributed by rdipardo) #146

Version 0.9.0 (released 2025-06-20)

• requirements
  • .NET 4.7.2 or higher
• features
  • WebView2 Edge integration (see settings to switch between HTML Rendering Engines)
  • Linking to filesystem files #8 ( works only with WebView2 (Edge) )
  • Disable file extension check #111, #112, #99
• bug fixes
  • NppTbData.pszModuleName is not properly assigned when Markdown panel is docked (contributed by rdipardo) #90
  • The keyboard shortcuts are not working on the Markdown Panel #91 (works only with WebView2 (Edge))
  • Undocking the viewer from its default position crashes NotePad++ (contributed by rdipardo) #97, #106
  • Meta tags in generated html not closed #100
  • Links pointing to file with whitespace (%20) is incorrectly parsed (%2520) #101
  • Incorrect opening of URL with CR encoded character (%0D) #105 (works only with WebView2 (Edge))
  • Add mermaid graph markdown setting pre tag class #115

Version 0.7.3 (released 2023-02-12)

• bug fixes
  • Settings file NppMarkdownPanel.ini isn't used anymore #78
  • Plugin release v0.7.2 searches help files in wrong directory #76

Version 0.7.2 (released 2023-02-11)

• bug fixes
  • Display images with Url-encoded space character (%20) in the filename (contributed by andrzejQ ) #39
• features
  • Plugin-Menu entry renamed to MarkdownPanel
  • Syntax highlighting is now controlled by CSS Styles. See style.css and style-dark.css after comment /* Syntax Highlighting */ #71
  • Feature to preprocess markdown files before they are send to the converter. Furthermore it's possible to postprocess the generated html files (created by markdig). To enable this feature it's necessary to configure pre/post-processor commands (can be any commandline program) in the config file plugins/Config/NppMarkdownPanel.ini. The placeholders %inputfile% and %outputfile% have to be set in the commandline and will be resolved at runtime (with temporary file names). An example C# commandline-project can be found under: misc\PPExtensions\MdpPrePostprocessorTemplate.sln

[Options]
PreProcessorExe=C:\temp\preprocessor.exe
PreProcessorArguments=%inputfile% %outputfile%
PostProcessorExe=C:\temp\preprocessor\postprocessor.exe
PostProcessorArguments=%inputfile% %outputfile%

Version 0.7.