Installation

Requirements

The plugin will work on a JetBrains product with minimum build of 163.15529, which is IDEA 2016.3 and Java JRE 1.8. Earlier releases of the plugin support older IDEs and Java JRE 1.6 but are no longer updated.

⚠️ Markdown plugins conflict with each other. If you have more than one markdown plugin installed then you need to make sure that only one is enabled at a time. The only exception to this is GFM which provides a preview rendered by chromium browser engine and markdown to HTML converted by GitHub. It does not provide any language based features that create the conflict between other markdown plugins.

Installation Procedure

You can install the plugin two different ways:

1. Download the plugin from IntelliJ Markdown Navigator plugin page and install it from disk in Plugins settings (Preferences on OS X) and clicking on Install plugin from disk...

2. Go to Plugins in settings (Preferences on OS X) and click on Browse Repositories...

   1. Select Markdown Navigator from the list of plugins. You can type 'markdown' into the search field to limit the list of plugins.
   2. In the right hand information panel click the install button .

3. Starting with versions 2018 of the IDE, JetBrains provided "Markdown Support" plugin is part of the IDE and cannot be uninstalled. It needs to be disabled, otherwise they will interfere with each other's operation.

4. Restart the IDE

5. You should see the Markdown Navigator document icon or the wiki page icon on all Markdown files in your project.

Choose Your Preview Browser

Two HTML Preview options are available under Preferences on OS X and File/Settings on Windows and Linux, Languages & Frameworks > Markdown > Preview: Swing and JavaFx WebView based.

1. Swing based renderer is lightning fast, will run under JDK as early as 1.6 but its limitations make it impossible to get close to GitHub look and some of its elements look jagged on retina displays. It does not support JavaScript, limiting its ability to handle extensions which depend on JavaScript rendering. That said, it will show the rendered results.

2. JavaFx WebView based renderer is close to desktop browser HTML, CSS and JavaScript implementation, retina aware. It does require that your IDE's boot JDK is 1.8.0u40 or later and it is more resource demanding but it does look good.

   ℹ️ If you want the additional functionality of JavaFX preview browser but prefer the simpler look of Swing browser, you can select JavaFX preview browser and change the style sheet to Swing Default in Stylesheet Settings.

⚠️ If you are running on JDK earlier than 1.8 you will need to change the boot JDK to get JavaFX preview. Please refer to the Changing Boot JDK instructions. The latest IDEs, with product numbers featuring year 2016 do not need additional steps to enable JavaFX preview.

❗ If you installed the plugin but are experiencing problems getting the JavaFX preview working please see the JavaFX WebView HTML Preview Not Working troubleshooting guide and if that does not help please report the issue Issues so it can be resolved.

Configuring the Plugin

Being a feature rich plugin, Markdown Navigator has many configuration and customization options. You can find these by category and related functionality in Preferences on OS X and settings on Windows/Linux under Languages & Frameworks > Markdown section. Please review a brief description of configuration categories in the Configuration Settings section so you know what is available.

Entering Your License Code

If you have a Markdown Navigator license then you should enter it into the License Information text box or use the Load License from vladsch.com button to open a dialog box that will allow you to enter your licensee e-mail and name then proceed to download it from the vladsch.com server.

❗ You can set a license password on your license by logging into your vladsch.com account setting the password for your license in the license list. If you have not set a license password then you should leave the password text box empty.

Choosing an Update Channel

Default settings will use the official, stable plugin release channel. If you want to get updates before they are officially releases you can select the Patch Release option in the Check updates for: drop down list box. Latest bug fix and development releases can be accessed via Early Access Program option.

The EAP channel is reflecting the active development of the plugin and is updated for latest fixes and features. If you do not mind more frequent plugin updates you should consider switching to the EAP Update Channel.

Configuration Settings

1. Keymap - Assign shortcuts to plugin actions under Plug-ins > Markdown Navigator
2. Editor >:
   1. General > Code Folding - Fold by default settings
   2. Colors & Fonts > Markdown - syntax highlighting color settings
   3. [[Code Style > Markdown|Document Format Settings]] - wrap on typing, right margin and element formatting styles.
   4. Live Templates - Markdown template group contains the default live templates included in the plugin
   5. Intentions - Markdown group contains the intention actions provided by the plugin.
   6. Inspections - Markdown group contains the inspections provided by the plugin.
3. Languages & Frameworks > Markdown - contains the main settings for the plugin application-settings with subsections:
   1. Editor - Editor settings and smart key options.
   2. Preview - Preview browser and options.
   3. Parser - Markdown parser extensions and option
   4. Stylesheet - Preview stylesheet options and customizations.
   5. HTML Generation - Preview HTML generation customizations.
   6. HTML Export - Optional exporting of generated HTML.
   7. Link Map - Link modification for non-GitHub link resolution and custom link formats.
   8. Rendering - Scope based rendering configuration.
      1. Profiles - Rendering profiles for use in scope based rendering.
   9. Debug - Debug settings and other development tweaks/options.
   10. Notice - Copyright notices for libraries and code used by the plugin.