Welcome to Heck Yes Markdown

You’re at Heck Yes Markdown, one of the best places on the net to learn about Markdown: what it is, why you want it, who’s using it, and when and where it works. Well, it will be, anyway. Right now it’s just the home of Marky the Markdownifier, a tool to take existing HTML web pages off the web, extract the main content, and turn it into Markdown so you can store it as plain text. Whether you keep your notes in raw Markdown (text files, nvALT, nvUltra, Obsidian, etc.), or render them into HTML or Rich Text for another organizer (Evernote, Keep It, etc.), Marky will give you clean markup and easy-to-edit notes. Questions? I’m here for you.

Enter a url below to convert the page to Markdown.

The Markdownifier will do its darndest to get you some Markdown, but there are times that it just can’t pull it off. As a general rule: garbage in, garbage out. If the html markup on the page is incorrect or too complex, poor Marky will choke. There are plenty of other factors, such as redirection, SSL connections, timeouts and other fun, but he’s been doing a pretty good job in testing. If you have a specific page you think should be Markdownifiable, send it to me. I’ll see what I can do.

F.A.Q.

Who made this?

Marky is a labor of love by Brett Terpstra. He also makes Marked 2 and Bunch, among other things. And goodness, Brett would be just tickled if you followed him on Mastodon. He doesn't have many friends in real life, so it would really mean a lot to him.

See the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

What’s a Markdown?

It’s actually just “Markdown,” and it’s a plain-text syntax for document markup built by John Gruber. It takes plain text and magically makes it into perfectly-formed HTML. It’s simple and intuitive, and once you learn 6 or 7 basics, you’re off and running. Thanks to tools like Fletcher Penny's MultiMarkdown project or Pandoc, you can even create beautiful PDF’s and LaTeX documents. If you’re so inclined, you can turn Markdown into a Word file… without ever having to use a word processor. Marky uses Pandoc for conversions.

All of this means that if you build a web-clipping system based on Markdown, you’re guaranteed a Spotlight-indexed (on a Mac), UNIX-searchable, easy to maintain and totally portable solution for storing information. Plus, with a few tools like Marked you can make it look really pretty when you read it. This is where Marky finds his place in the world.

What’s a Markdownifier?

That one actually gets the singular article. It’s a tool that goes in the opposite direction, turning HTML into Markdown. It uses the Readability algorithm to determine what part of the page is actually of interest, cutting out the ads, menus, comments, and such. What you get back is a plain text representation of the page, ready for adding to any text-based note taking application, or just storing in text files on your disk. Sometimes it doesn’t work. I’m just letting you know.

I’m scared, can I just stick with HTML instead?

Yes, just check the “Preview as HTML” box, and you’ll never see Markdown. You really should try Markdown, though. It’s easy and fun at parties. The Preview as HTML option will actually do the Markdown conversion, and then convert back to HTML, giving you very clean source code that won’t cause issues when pasted elsewhere.

How much data are you collecting about me?

I’m running Fathom Analytics on these pages. I know how many people were here, what browsers and platform they were using, and that’s about all. If you want to, you can even block those and pretend you’re a ninja (you’re not, but if it makes you feel better…).

I also record the URLs and whether they were successfully Markdownified, but no personal information is attached to those records.

Can I take it home with me?

You’re in luck. Bookmarklets that should work in your browser are available below. Appropriately, you’ll find them in the “Bookmarklets” section.

I have big ideas, got an API?

See the API documentation.

Who are you and what are you doing here?

My name is Brett, and I don’t like sleeping. This insomnia leads to weird and sometimes silly projects. This is one of them, but I’m still uncertain as to whether it’s weird, silly or both.

To whom are you indebted for this thing?

John Gruber, creator of Markdown, for making the Markdown Kool-Aid.

John MacFarlane for Pandoc. Used for conversions to and from Markdown.

Arc90 for Readability.

How frequently are these questions really asked?

At least once, each. Some more than others.

Bookmarklets

Bookmarklet Generator

When you change settings on the form above, the "Bookmarklet" link below the form updates with the current settings. Drag it to your bookmarks toolbar and it will apply those settings on whatever page you click the bookmarklet.

Copy (or drag) this to your toolbar Bookmark to open the current page in Marky with Readability and inline links using GitHub Flavored Markdown

Page→Marky

Open the current page in Marky without Readability, GFM

Page→Marky (no Readability)

Open the current page in Marky with Readability, MultiMarkdown format

Page→Marky MMD

Open the current page in Marky without Readability, MMD

Page→Marky MMD (no Readability)

API