Paste Markdown

A powerful VS Code extension that automatically converts HTML content to Markdown format when pasting into markdown files. Supports both desktop and web versions of VS Code.

✨ Features

📝 HTML to Markdown Conversion

Automatically converts HTML content to properly formatted Markdown when pasting into .md files.

Example:

<h1>Hello World</h1>
<p>This is a <strong>test</strong> paragraph with a <a href="https://example.com">link</a>.</p>
<ul>
  <li>First item</li>
  <li>Second item</li>
</ul>

Converts to:

# Hello World
This is a **test** paragraph with a [link](https://example.com).

- First item
- Second item

🖼️ Image Paste Support

Smart image handling with multiple fallback options:

• File Copy: Automatically copies image files to your workspace and creates relative path references
• Base64 Encoding: Falls back to base64 encoding when file operations aren't available
• URI References: Supports pasting images from file URIs

📊 Advanced HTML Elements Support

Tables

Converts HTML tables to GitHub Flavored Markdown tables:

<table>
  <tr><th>Name</th><th>Age</th></tr>
  <tr><td>John</td><td>25</td></tr>
</table>

| Name | Age |
| --- | --- |
| John | 25 |

Code Blocks

Preserves syntax highlighting information:

<div class="highlight-source-javascript">
  <pre>console.log('Hello World');</pre>
</div>

```javascript
console.log('Hello World');

#### Task Lists
Converts HTML checkboxes to GitHub-style task lists:
```html
<li><input type="checkbox" checked> Completed task</li>
<li><input type="checkbox"> Pending task</li>

- [x] Completed task
- [ ] Pending task

Text Formatting

• Bold: <strong> → **text**
• Italic: <em> → *text*
• Strikethrough: <del>, <s>, <strike> → ~text~
• Links: <a href="url">text</a> → [text](https://github.com/wolfsilver/paste-markdown/blob/HEAD/url)
• Headings: <h1> to <h6> → # to ######

🚀 Installation

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
3. Search for "Paste Markdown"
4. Click Install

📖 Usage

1. Open any .md file in VS Code
2. Copy HTML content from any source (web pages, emails, documents, etc.)
3. Paste (Ctrl+V / Cmd+V) in your markdown file
4. The extension will automatically convert HTML to Markdown format

Smart Detection

The extension intelligently detects:

• Whether the clipboard contains HTML content that should be converted
• If the pasted content is already in Markdown format (skips conversion)
• Image data and handles it appropriately

🌐 Web Support

This extension works in both desktop and web versions of VS Code (including vscode.dev):

• Desktop: Full functionality including file operations
• Web: Core conversion features with base64 image fallback

⚙️ Configuration

The extension works out of the box with sensible defaults:

• Uses ATX-style headings (# Heading)
• Fenced code blocks with ```
• Unordered lists with - bullets
• Horizontal rules with ---

🛠️ Development

Building from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/wolfsilver/paste-markdown.git
cd paste-markdown

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build for desktop
npm run compile

# Build for web
npm run compile:web

# Watch mode for development
npm run watch        # Desktop
npm run watch:web    # Web

Architecture

• Core Engine: Uses Turndown for robust HTML to Markdown conversion
• Custom Rules: Extended with specialized rules for code blocks, tables, task lists, and strikethrough
• Image Handling: Smart file path generation and workspace-aware relative paths
• Cross-Platform: Works in both Node.js (desktop) and browser (web) environments

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

🐛 Issues

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue on GitHub.

Enjoy seamless HTML to Markdown conversion! 🎉