Markdown PDF (Revived)

Install • Features • Settings • Requirements • Upgrade

Converts Markdown files to PDF or HTML from within VSCode. All rendering is local, with no external servers or telemetry.

Requirements

A stable Chrome, Chromium, or Microsoft Edge installation is required for PDF export. HTML export does not require a browser. The extension detects supported browsers automatically at standard installation paths on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

On WSL, install the browser inside the Linux distribution.

To use a non-standard browser binary:

"markdown-pdf.executablePath": "/path/to/browser"

Restart VSCode after changing this setting.

Getting Started

VS Code users can search for "Markdown PDF" in the Extensions panel or install from the VS Code Marketplace.

VSCodium users should install from Open VSX.

Manual install: Download the .vsix from the latest GitHub release, then run Extensions: Install from VSIX from the command palette.

Usage

Command Palette

1. Open a Markdown file.
2. Press F1 or Ctrl+Shift+P.
3. Type export and select a command:
   • Markdown PDF: Export (pdf)
   • Markdown PDF: Export (html)
   • Markdown PDF: Export (all: pdf, html)
   • Markdown PDF: Export (settings.json)

Right-click Menu

1. Open a Markdown file.
2. Right-click in the editor.
3. Select a command from the markdown-pdf group.

Auto-convert on Save

1. Add "markdown-pdf.convertOnSave": true to settings.json.
2. Restart VSCode.
3. Open a Markdown file. The extension converts it on each save.

To exclude specific files from auto-convert, add filename patterns to markdown-pdf.convertOnSaveExclude.

Features

• Syntax highlighting via highlight.js with 80+ themes
• Emoji support
• KaTeX math: $...$ for inline, $$...$$ for display
• Mermaid diagrams, rendered locally with no external calls
• File includes via :[text](https://github.com/AUAggy/markdown-pdf-revived/blob/HEAD/file.md) syntax (built-in, workspace-sandboxed)
• Custom div containers via markdown-it-container
• Checkbox and task list support via markdown-it-checkbox
• Footnotes via [^1] syntax
• GitHub-style callout blocks (> [!NOTE], > [!WARNING], etc.)
• DOMPurify sanitization of rendered HTML before PDF/HTML output

Settings

Output

Styles

User-supplied <style> elements in Markdown are removed during sanitization for both PDF and HTML export. Put trusted custom CSS in a workspace-local file instead:

"markdown-pdf.styles": [
  "styles/export.css"
]

Sanitized style="..." attributes remain supported. There is no setting to re-enable <style> elements.

markdown-pdf.allowPathsOutsideWorkspace

Allow images, includes, and stylesheets to reference files outside the workspace root. Disabled by default. Enable only if you have intentional cross-workspace references (e.g. a shared stylesheet at /projects/shared/styles.css).

Enabling this setting lets Markdown documents reference files outside the trusted workspace boundary. Prefer copying export styles into the workspace.

Markdown

PDF

Header and footer templates support these tokens:

Mermaid Diagrams

Mermaid diagrams render locally. PDF export waits for each diagram to finish rendering before capture.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    A[Start] --> B{Decision}
    B -->|Yes| C[Do the thing]
    B -->|No| D[Skip it]
    C --> E[End]
    D --> E
```

PlantUML has been removed. It sent diagram source to plantuml.com on each render. Use Mermaid for local diagram rendering.

Custom Containers

The markdown-it-container plugin wraps content in named <div> elements. Style them with a custom CSS file.

Input:

::: warning
*here be dragons*
:::

Output:

<div class="warning">
<p><em>here be dragons</em></p>
</div>

File Includes

Includes insert the contents of another Markdown file at the include site. Paths are relative to the file containing the include directive.

Syntax: :[display text](https://github.com/AUAggy/markdown-pdf-revived/blob/HEAD/relative-path-to-file.md)

Example:

:[Plugins](https://github.com/AUAggy/markdown-pdf-revived/blob/HEAD/plugins/README.md)
:[Changelog](https://github.com/AUAggy/markdown-pdf-revived/blob/HEAD/CHANGELOG.md)

The output contains the rendered content of each included file in sequence.

Includes are limited to 10 levels, detect circular references, and cannot leave the workspace by default. Set markdown-pdf.allowPathsOutsideWorkspace to true only for trusted cross-workspace files.

Page Breaks

Insert a page break with:

<div class="page"/>

Known Limitations

• A supported browser must be installed separately for PDF export. The extension does not bundle or download a browser.
• Online CSS URLs (e.g., https://example.com/styles.css) do not resolve reliably in PDF output. Prefer local stylesheet paths.
• Inline <style> elements are blocked. Use a workspace-local file through markdown-pdf.styles.

Upgrade Notes

Version 3

• Move Markdown <style> content to a trusted workspace-local CSS file configured through markdown-pdf.styles.
• Sanitized style="..." attributes remain supported.
• On WSL, install Chrome, Chromium, or Microsoft Edge inside the Linux distribution.

From yzane.markdown-pdf

Version 2 removed PlantUML, PNG/JPEG export, and automatic Chromium downloads. Use Mermaid for diagrams and install a supported browser for PDF export.

Remove settings that are no longer supported:

Version 2 also changed the default syntax theme to github.css, disabled headers and footers by default, and increased the default margins. Local images, includes, and stylesheets are restricted to the workspace unless markdown-pdf.allowPathsOutsideWorkspace is enabled.

See CHANGELOG.md for the full release history.

License

MIT