Turn messy Markdown into clean Markdown
Markdown is forgiving, which is exactly why it drifts. One list uses *, the next uses +, headings run straight into paragraphs, ordered lists are all 1., and tables have ragged columns. It all renders fine — but the raw source becomes hard to read and diff. This formatter fixes that in one pass: paste your Markdown on the left and get clean, normalized output on the right, with a live preview so you can confirm nothing changed visually.
What it normalizes
- Bullets — every unordered list uses a single, consistent
- - Ordered lists — renumbered sequentially (1, 2, 3…) even if you typed all
1. - Headings — one space after the
#, with blank lines above and below - Blockquotes — a consistent
>prefix - Horizontal rules — normalized to
--- - Tables — columns padded and aligned; separator row rebuilt to match
- Whitespace — trailing spaces stripped and runs of blank lines collapsed to one
Your code is never touched
Anything inside a fenced code block (```) is preserved exactly — indentation, spacing, and all. The formatter is careful to reformat only the Markdown around your code, never the code itself.
Clean source, better diffs
Consistent Markdown isn’t just tidier to look at — it produces smaller, clearer diffs in Git, so reviewers see real content changes instead of noise from stray whitespace or renumbered lists. Run your docs and README files through the formatter before committing and the history stays clean.
Private and instant
Everything runs locally in your browser. Nothing you paste is uploaded, which makes the formatter safe for internal docs and drafts. Format, preview, copy, or download — then get back to writing. Need to write from scratch instead? Try the Markdown editor.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Markdown formatter do? +
It normalizes your Markdown without changing its meaning: strips trailing whitespace, unifies bullet characters to a single dash, renumbers ordered lists, adds consistent spacing around headings, tidies blockquotes and horizontal rules, aligns table columns, and collapses extra blank lines.
Will it change what my Markdown means? +
No. Formatting is cosmetic — the rendered output stays the same. Content inside fenced code blocks is preserved exactly, including spacing, so your code is never altered.
Does it align Markdown tables? +
Yes. It pads each column to a consistent width and rebuilds the separator row to match your alignment markers (:---, :---:, ---:), so raw tables become readable in a plain-text editor.
Is the formatter free and private? +
Completely free with no sign-up, and it runs entirely in your browser — your text is never uploaded to a server.