The Complete Guide to Markdown Note-Taking

Markdown is the best writing format you're probably underusing. It's plain text that renders beautifully, it's fast to write once you learn the shortcuts, and it keeps your notes readable even as plain text.

This guide covers everything you need to take your notes from unstructured text to organized, formatted documents.

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What is Markdown?

Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber in 2004. The idea: write using simple punctuation conventions that are readable as plain text and render into formatted HTML.

Instead of clicking Bold in a toolbar, you wrap text in **asterisks**. Instead of a heading button, you prefix a line with ##. You never have to take your hands off the keyboard.

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The essential Markdown syntax

Headings

Use # symbols for headings. One # for the main title, ## for sections, ### for sub-sections.

# Meeting Notes — Q1 Planning
## Action items
### Design team

Rule of thumb: Use one H1 per note (the title), H2 for major sections, H3 for sub-topics.

Bold and italic

**Bold text** — for terms, warnings, key points
*Italic text* — for emphasis, titles, foreign words
***Bold italic*** — use sparingly

Lists

Unordered lists — use - or *:

- First item
- Second item
  - Nested item (indent with 2 spaces)
  - Another nested item
- Back to top level

Ordered lists — just use numbers:

1. Open Krokanti Notes
2. Create a new note
3. Start writing

Checklists

- [x] Completed item
- [ ] Pending item
- [ ] Another pending item

In Krokanti Notes, these render as interactive checkboxes you can click to complete.

Code

Inline code uses single backticks:

Use `npm install` to install dependencies.

Code blocks use triple backticks:

```javascript
function greet(name) {
  return `Hello, ${name}!`;
}
```

Always specify the language for proper formatting.

Blockquotes

> The best note is the one you can find when you need it.

Use blockquotes for quotes, important callouts, or key takeaways.

Links

[Anchor text](https://example.com)

Tables

| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Cell A   | Cell B   | Cell C   |
| Cell D   | Cell E   | Cell F   |

Tables are perfect for comparisons, schedules, and structured data.

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Markdown note-taking patterns

The meeting note template

# Meeting: [Topic] — [Date]
**Attendees:** Alice, Bob, Carol
**Goal:** [What you're trying to decide or accomplish]

## Decisions made
- [Decision 1]
- [Decision 2]

## Action items
- [ ] @Alice — [Task] by [date]
- [ ] @Bob — [Task] by [date]

## Notes
[Freeform notes from the discussion]

## Next meeting
[Date, topic]

The research note template

# [Topic] Research

## Key sources
- [Source 1](link) — [one-line summary]
- [Source 2](link) — [one-line summary]

## Main findings
### Finding 1: [Title]
[Details]

### Finding 2: [Title]
[Details]

## My synthesis
[Your own take, connecting the findings]

## Open questions
- [ ] [Question to investigate further]

The daily note template

# [Date]

## Focus for today
1. [Top priority]
2. [Second priority]

## Notes
[Anything captured during the day]

## Done
- [x] [Completed tasks]

## Tomorrow
- [ ] [Carry-overs]

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Markdown in Krokanti Notes

Krokanti Notes uses Tiptap, one of the most capable open-source editors, with full Markdown support:

• All standard Markdown syntax renders as you type
• Checklists are interactive (click to check/uncheck)
• Code blocks preserve formatting and monospace font
• Tables are editable inline — click any cell to edit

You can write in Markdown and Krokanti Notes handles the rendering automatically. No preview pane needed.

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Advanced tips

Use headers as anchor points for search

If you write good headers, you can search for the section title and jump directly to the right part of any note. "Meeting decisions" finds every note with a ## Decisions made or similar section.

Tag by topic, not by date

It's tempting to name notes by date: 2025-01-20 meeting notes. But searching by date is rarely useful. Instead, use descriptive titles and tags:

Title: Q1 Planning — Action Items Tags: #q1, #planning, #engineering

Keep a "scratch" note

Have one note called "Scratch" or "Inbox" for capturing thoughts immediately. Process it at the end of each day — move things to their proper notes, delete what was useless.

Use blockquotes for key takeaways

At the end of a long note, summarize the most important point in a blockquote:

> TL;DR: We decided to use Postgres for the main database and Redis for sessions. Revisit caching strategy in Q2.

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FAQ

Is Markdown hard to learn? The basics take about 15 minutes to learn. The patterns in this guide will cover 95% of everything you need for notes.

Can I use Markdown in Krokanti Notes on mobile? Yes — Krokanti Notes works in any mobile browser. Markdown renders on mobile the same as on desktop.

Does Krokanti Notes support all Markdown syntax? Krokanti Notes supports all CommonMark Markdown plus extensions: tables, checklists (GFM), and code blocks with language hints.

What if I don't want to use Markdown? Krokanti Notes is also a great plain text editor. You don't have to use Markdown at all — just write prose and it will look clean and readable.

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See also: Note-taking for developers · Getting started with Krokanti Notes · Features overview