Reference

Markdown to PDF - preserve formatting end-to-end

If your converter can't keep your formatting, it can't be the tool. Here's exactly what survives the trip from Markdown to PDF.

By Elia Kuratli

Updated August 24, 2026·2 min read

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Inline formatting

**bold** - bold weight in the active font.
*italic* - italic style in the active font.
~~strikethrough~~ - strikethrough decoration.
`inline code` - mono font on a tinted background.
[link](url) - underlined, accent colour where the design uses one.

Block formatting

Headings - H1 to H6 with size and weight from the active design.
Paragraphs - normal body text.
Lists - bulleted and numbered, with proper indentation.
Task lists - `- [ ]` and `- [x]`, rendered as checkbox glyphs.
Blockquotes - left border + italic body.
Code blocks - fenced, with optional language tag.
Tables - with column alignment, header row, totals row.
Horizontal rules - thin line with margin.
Images - inline, scaled to body width.

What's not standard Markdown

Mini-labels - a paragraph that's exactly one bold run renders as a tight standalone label. We added this because corporate proposals use it heavily.
Numeric column auto-align - tables auto-detect numeric columns and right-align them.
Drag-drop image embedding - `![filename](img:abc123)` syntax for in-browser-embedded images.

FAQ

Does footnote syntax preserve?

The reference syntax is recognized but rendered inline rather than as page-bottom footnotes. See the <a href='/markdown-to-pdf-with-footnotes'>footnote guide</a>.

Does HTML in Markdown work?

Most inline HTML is stripped or rendered as plain text. Block-level HTML (e.g. `<details>`, `<table>`) is best-effort. For predictable output, stick to standard Markdown.

What about Mermaid / KaTeX?

Not supported in v1. Mermaid is a GitHub-specific extension; KaTeX requires a math typesetter. For diagrams, use static images. For math, use Pandoc + LaTeX.

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