Markdown editor online — plus HTML and rich text editors
A Markdown editor online lets you write in plain Markdown and watch a formatted preview update as you type, then export a clean .md or HTML file — no install, no sign-up, nothing uploaded. Carbide gives you three writing editors in one place: a live Markdown editor, a sandboxed HTML editor, and a visual rich text editor that turns formatting into clean HTML.
Each one runs entirely in your browser, so a draft, a code snippet or an email template you paste in never leaves your device. Here is what each editor does, how to move text between them, and which one to pick for the job.
Write Markdown with a live GitHub-flavored preview
The Markdown editor splits the screen: you type Markdown on the left and a rendered preview appears on the right, updating with every keystroke. It supports GitHub-flavored Markdown (GFM) — the flavor GitHub, GitLab and most dev tools use — so tables, task lists, fenced code blocks and strikethrough all render the way they will on GitHub.
A formatting toolbar sits above the editor for the syntax you forget: headings, bold and italic, links, lists, quotes and code. Type `# Title` for a heading, `**bold**` for bold, `- item` for a bullet, and `` `code` `` for inline code. The preview is your proof it is right before you paste it anywhere. When you are done, export the file as .md to keep the Markdown or as HTML to publish it.
Markdown to HTML export in one click
The most common reason people open a Markdown editor is to turn Markdown into HTML for a blog, a CMS or an email. In the Markdown editor the preview you already see is the HTML output — the export button hands you that same markup as a file or copyable code, with no extra conversion step.
To convert Markdown to HTML: paste or write your Markdown, check the live preview matches what you want, then choose HTML export. The result is clean, standards-compliant HTML you can drop straight into a page or a newsletter. Going the other way — a PDF you need as Markdown — is a separate job handled by the PDF to Markdown converter, and the PDF to Markdown converter guide walks through it.
Edit and test HTML with a safe live preview
When you already have HTML — a component, a landing block, a scrap from a page — the HTML editor is the fast way to see it render. Paste your HTML on one side and it renders live on the other, inside a sandboxed frame so a stray script can't touch the rest of the page or your data.
It is more than a viewer: syntax highlighting makes the markup readable, a built-in formatter cleans up messy indentation, and you can tweak a tag and watch the preview update instantly. That loop — paste, see it render, adjust — is exactly what you want when you are debugging why a table won't align or a button looks wrong, without spinning up a whole project.
Test an HTML email from a ready template
HTML email is its own kind of pain: inline styles, table layouts and clients that ignore half your CSS. The HTML editor ships with an email-ready starter template so you don't begin from a blank file — open it, swap the copy and links, and the live preview shows roughly how the message lays out.
To test an HTML email: start from the template, paste your content into the body, and watch the preview to catch broken tables or missing images before you send. When special characters like &, < or > show up as raw code in your message, run them through the HTML entity encoder so they display correctly. Keep in mind the preview reflects a standards browser — always send yourself a real test message, because Outlook and Gmail render email HTML differently.
Write visually and copy clean HTML (WYSIWYG)
Not everyone wants to write HTML by hand. The rich text editor is a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) tool: you format text with a toolbar — bold, headings, lists, links, colors — exactly as it will appear, and it produces clean, email-friendly HTML underneath. This is the answer to the classic word-to-html and text-to-html search: paste formatted text, copy the HTML.
It suits anyone who needs HTML but doesn't want to memorize tags — marketers building a newsletter, support staff writing a formatted reply, or a writer prepping copy for a CMS. Format your text, then copy the generated HTML or hand it to the HTML editor to fine-tune. Because it runs in the browser, whatever you write stays on your device.
Arabic and RTL writing across all three editors
Writing in Arabic online usually means fighting the editor over text direction. All three editors handle right-to-left text and mixed Arabic-English content correctly, so the Markdown editor, the HTML editor and the rich text editor each render Arabic the way you typed it — in the editor and in the preview.
That matters for Markdown docs with Arabic headings, HTML pages that carry the dir attribute, and formatted Arabic content you want to publish as HTML. Nothing about the text is sent to a server for any of this — the layout, preview and export all happen locally. If you also want the plain-text stats on what you wrote, the editors pair naturally with the rest of Carbide's text tools.
Frequently asked questions
What is GitHub-flavored Markdown?
GitHub-flavored Markdown (GFM) is the widely-used Markdown dialect that adds tables, task lists, fenced code blocks, strikethrough and autolinks on top of standard Markdown. The Markdown editor renders GFM, so your preview matches how the text will look on GitHub and most dev platforms.
How do I convert Markdown to HTML?
Write or paste your Markdown into the Markdown editor, confirm the live preview looks right, then use the HTML export or copy option — the preview is the HTML output. You get clean HTML with no separate converter step and nothing uploaded.
How do I get the HTML from what I wrote?
Use the rich text editor: format your text visually with the toolbar, then copy the generated HTML. It's the fastest word-to-HTML path — no tags to write by hand. For hand-editing that HTML afterward, paste it into the HTML editor.
Is my text or code uploaded anywhere?
No. The Markdown editor, HTML editor and rich text editor all run entirely in your browser. Your writing, snippets and templates are rendered and exported on your own device — nothing is sent to a server.
Are these editors really free?
Yes — all three are free with no sign-up, no watermark on your output and no daily limits. There is no pro tier gating export or preview; you can write, preview and download .md or HTML as often as you like.
One tab, three writing editors: reach for the Markdown editor when you want live preview and clean .md or HTML export, the HTML editor to test and format markup or an email template, and the rich text editor when you'd rather write visually and copy the HTML. All free, all private, all in your browser.