Bug: Partial Live Markdown Preview in Editor
-
Platform / App Version: Windows, Web App, Chrome (Brave Browser),
Description: I am experiencing an issue where Simplenote’s Edit mode is acting like a partial live Markdown preview. The editor successfully renders almost all Markdown elements on the fly, but completely ignores lists and blockquotes.
Specifically, the following elements successfully render live right inside the editor:
- Headings (#, ##, etc.)
- Bold and Italic text (text, text)
- Strikethrough (~~text~~)
However, the following elements do not render at all and remain as raw text:
- Unordered lists (
-or*) - Ordered lists (
1.,2.) - Blockquotes (
>)
Screenshots:
-
Hi sameerku106,
Thanks for your patience and for bearing with us; we’re working on a backlog of support requests at this time, and we generally answer in the order received.
Also, thanks for the detailed write-up and screenshots, that really helps.Good news: this is expected behaviour rather than a bug.
A recent update introduced light Markdown styling directly in the editor, so some syntax now receives subtle visual formatting as you type (such as headings and inline emphasis like bold, italic, and
strikethrough), while the underlying Markdown characters remain visible. This is a styling layer on top of your text rather than a full live preview, and at the moment it intentionally applies only to a subset of inline Markdown.Lists and blockquotes are block-level elements, and they are not currently included in that in-editor styling. That’s why they remain as raw text while you’re editing. However, they are not broken; they render correctly in the full Markdown preview.
If Markdown is enabled on the note, you can use the preview (eye) icon in the top-right corner to see the fully rendered output, including lists, blockquotes, and other elements.
I’ve also passed along your suggestion to extend in-editor styling to include lists and blockquotes as well, as that’s a reasonable improvement. I can’t promise if or when that would be implemented, but it has been noted.
Thanks again for taking the time to report this so clearly.
Kind regards,
Simplenote Support Forums 