Markdown in Notepad++

To improve markdown styling in notepad++ (particularly if using a dark theme in notepad++ like ZenBurn, where it goes really bad....

Use Edditoria markdown++ syntax highlighting

# Check whether you have Node.js installed
node -v

# Go to UDL folder of Notepad++
cd $env:AppData\Notepad++\userDefineLangs

# Example: Download Zenburn UDL file
npx markdown-plus-plus zenburn

# Read help for details
npx markdown-plus-plus --help

Relies on npm

You may need to restart notepad, and close and reopen relevant files, before notepad++ will apply the correct user defined language to them.

Real time previews

MarkdownViewer++ is a Notepad++ plugin that lets you type a file using Markdown and see the preview in real time, in a preview panel

See github nea markdownviewer++

Download the 32 or 64 bit (check what you have in the men of notepad++, ? > about) from releases (expand "< Assets")

Unzip the dll and copy it to your plugins folder (open it with Plugins > Open plugins folder...)

May need to restart notepad++.

(I'm happy to note that it uses markdig, which I also use at TIL and wiki. Also, it is written in C#, so could be a useful reference if I ever wish to write a notepad++ plugin. And I could always fork/contribute.)

You can set custom CSS. It seems to be internet explorer browser, so CSS support is quite old.

Consider using this one: darkdown css ...though I found I had to make minor changes.

Here's my current style-sheet:

/* Avoid page breaks inside the most common attributes, especially for exports (i.e. PDF) */
td, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, p, ul, ol, li {
		page-break-inside: avoid;
}
body{
		margin: 0 auto;
		background-color: #333;
		font-family: Georgia, Palatino, serif;
		color: #EEE;
		line-height: 1;
		max-width: 960px;
		padding: 30px;
}
h1, h2, h3, h4 {
		font-weight: 400;
}
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, p {
		margin-bottom: 24px;
		padding: 0;
}
h1 {
		font-size: 48px;
}
h2 {
		font-size: 36px;
		margin: 24px 0 6px;
}
h3 {
		font-size: 24px;
}
h4 {
		font-size: 21px;
}
h5 {
		font-size: 18px;
}
a {
		color: #61BFC1;
		margin: 0;
		padding: 0;
		text-decoration: none;
		vertical-align: baseline;
}
a:hover {
		text-decoration: underline;
}
a:visited {
		color: #466B6C;
}
ul, ol {
		padding: 0;
		margin: 0;
}
li {
		line-height: 24px;
}
ul li {
		margin-left:24px;
		padding-left:8px;
}
p, ul, ol {
		font-size: 16px;
		line-height: 24px;
		max-width: 540px;
}
pre,code {
		padding: 8px 24px;
		max-width: 800px;
		white-space: pre-wrap;
		background-color:#444;
}
code {
		padding: 2px;
		font-family: Consolas, Monaco, Andale Mono, monospace;
		line-height: 1.5;
		font-size: 16px;
}
aside {
		display: block;
		float: right;
		width: 390px;
}
blockquote {
		border-left:.3em solid #ccc;
		padding: 0 2em;
		margin-left:0;
		max-width: 476px;
		background-color: #444;
}
blockquote {
	color: #AAA;
}
blockquote cite {
		font-size:14px;
		line-height:20px;
		color:#AAA;
}
blockquote cite:before {
		content: '\2014 \00A0';
}

blockquote p {
		max-width: 460px;
}
hr {
		width: 540px;
		text-align: left;
		margin: 0 auto 0 0;
		color: #999;
}

/* Code below this line is copyright Twitter Inc. */

button,
input,
select,
textarea {
	font-size: 100%;
	margin: 0;
	vertical-align: baseline;
	*vertical-align: middle;
}
button, input {
	line-height: normal;
	*overflow: visible;
}
button::-moz-focus-inner, input::-moz-focus-inner {
	border: 0;
	padding: 0;
}
button,
input[type="button"],
input[type="reset"],
input[type="submit"] {
	cursor: pointer;
	-webkit-appearance: button;
}
input[type=checkbox], input[type=radio] {
	cursor: pointer;
}
/* override default chrome & firefox settings */
input:not([type="image"]), textarea {
	-webkit-box-sizing: content-box;
	-moz-box-sizing: content-box;
	box-sizing: content-box;
}

input[type="search"] {
	-webkit-appearance: textfield;
	-webkit-box-sizing: content-box;
	-moz-box-sizing: content-box;
	box-sizing: content-box;
}
input[type="search"]::-webkit-search-decoration {
	-webkit-appearance: none;
}
label,
input,
select,
textarea {
	font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
	font-size: 13px;
	font-weight: normal;
	line-height: normal;
	margin-bottom: 18px;
}
input[type=checkbox], input[type=radio] {
	cursor: pointer;
	margin-bottom: 0;
}
input[type=text],
input[type=password],
textarea,
select {
	display: inline-block;
	width: 210px;
	padding: 4px;
	font-size: 13px;
	font-weight: normal;
	line-height: 18px;
	height: 18px;
	color: #808080;
	border: 1px solid #ccc;
	-webkit-border-radius: 3px;
	-moz-border-radius: 3px;
	border-radius: 3px;
}
select, input[type=file] {
	height: 27px;
	line-height: 27px;
}
textarea {
	height: auto;
}

/* grey out placeholders */
:-moz-placeholder {
	color: #bfbfbf;
}
::-webkit-input-placeholder {
	color: #bfbfbf;
}

input[type=text],
input[type=password],
select,
textarea {
	-webkit-transition: border linear 0.2s, box-shadow linear 0.2s;
	-moz-transition: border linear 0.2s, box-shadow linear 0.2s;
	transition: border linear 0.2s, box-shadow linear 0.2s;
	-webkit-box-shadow: inset 0 1px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
	-moz-box-shadow: inset 0 1px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
	box-shadow: inset 0 1px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
}
input[type=text]:focus, input[type=password]:focus, textarea:focus {
	outline: none;
	border-color: rgba(82, 168, 236, 0.8);
	-webkit-box-shadow: inset 0 1px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1), 0 0 8px rgba(82, 168, 236, 0.6);
	-moz-box-shadow: inset 0 1px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1), 0 0 8px rgba(82, 168, 236, 0.6);
	box-shadow: inset 0 1px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1), 0 0 8px rgba(82, 168, 236, 0.6);
}

/* buttons */
button {
	display: inline-block;
	padding: 4px 14px;
	font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
	font-size: 13px;
	line-height: 18px;
	-webkit-border-radius: 4px;
	-moz-border-radius: 4px;
	border-radius: 4px;
	-webkit-box-shadow: inset 0 1px 0 rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2), 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);
	-moz-box-shadow: inset 0 1px 0 rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2), 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);
	box-shadow: inset 0 1px 0 rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2), 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);
	background-color: #0064cd;
	background-repeat: repeat-x;
	background-image: -khtml-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(#049cdb), to(#0064cd));
	background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #049cdb, #0064cd);
	background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #049cdb, #0064cd);
	background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%, #049cdb), color-stop(100%, #0064cd));
	background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #049cdb, #0064cd);
	background-image: -o-linear-gradient(top, #049cdb, #0064cd);
	background-image: linear-gradient(top, #049cdb, #0064cd);
	color: #fff;
	text-shadow: 0 -1px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25);
	border: 1px solid #004b9a;
	border-bottom-color: #003f81;
	-webkit-transition: 0.1s linear all;
	-moz-transition: 0.1s linear all;
	transition: 0.1s linear all;
	border-color: #0064cd #0064cd #003f81;
	border-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25);
}
button:hover {
	color: #fff;
	background-position: 0 -15px;
	text-decoration: none;
}
button:active {
	-webkit-box-shadow: inset 0 3px 7px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15), 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);
	-moz-box-shadow: inset 0 3px 7px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15), 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);
	box-shadow: inset 0 3px 7px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15), 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);
}
button::-moz-focus-inner {
	padding: 0;
	border: 0;
}

The style info you set gets embedded into a .ini file here:

$env:AppDat\Notepad++\plugins\config\MarkdownViewerPlusPlus.ini

See also