Paste Markdown Link 
A simple VS Code extension that helps you create formatted Markdown links quickly. When you have text selected and paste a URL, it automatically formats it as a Markdown link [TEXT] (URL) .
Usage
- Select some text in a Markdown file [1]
- Copy a URL link (e.g.,
https://www.example.com [2]) to your clipboard
- Press Ctrl + V (Windows, Linux) or Cmd + V (macOS)
- The selected text will be converted into a Markdown link
[TEXT] (URL) with the URL

Advanced Usage
Three commands are available:
- Paste Markdown Link (Ctrl+V): The basic command described above. It checks if the clipboard text is a URL with known protocols [2] and pastes it as a Markdown link
[TEXT] (URL) . Default keybinding: Ctrl + V (Windows, Linux) or Cmd + V (macOS)
- Paste Markdown Link: Same as above, but is "forced", meaning it does not check if the clipboard text is a URL, and pastes the markdown syntax no matter what is selected.[3] Typically used to paste relative links like
[TEXT] (/path/to/file) . No default keybinding.
- Paste Markdown Image: Same as above ("forced" (no clipboard URL check and no selection check)), but pastes an image link
![TEXT] (URL) . No default keybinding.
Press Ctrl + Shift + P to open the command palette, then search for these commands and press Enter.
Notes
- [1]: Markdown, MDX, R Markdown, and Quarto files are supported
- [2]: Typically
http(s) links, but also supports: ftp(s), file, sftp, ssh, scp, mailto, tel, sms, callto, magnet, torrent, ed2k, thunder, dchub, dcpp, irc, ircs, news, nntp, git, svn, hg, data, blob, ipfs, ipns, chrome, chrome-extension, about, resource, moz-extension, ws, wss, vscode, cursor
- [3]: If one selection is within an existing Markdown link or image, or one selection spans multiple lines, the "Ctrl+V" command will replace the selection with the clipboard text as-is without adding Markdown link syntax, but the other two commands will add the Markdown link syntax (newlines will be replaced with spaces)
- When no text is selected, two non "Ctrl+V" commands create a markdown link with empty brackets with cursor inside
- All three commands support multi-selection. Each selection is processed independently, as if it were a single selection
- Compatible with VS Code 1.75.0 or higher and its derivatives like Cursor
- This extension is not needed if you're using Markdown All in One, which already includes this feature. Paste Markdown Link is intended as a lightweight alternative for users who don't need the additional functionality provided by Markdown All in One
- No user settings are available
- No runtime (bundled, non-dev) dependencies. It's minimalistic yet includes comprehensive tests and a CI build pipeline targeting both the Visual Studio Marketplace and the Open VSX Registry. It can serve as a template for other extensions
- MIT License
Release Notes
1.0.2
1.0.3
- Add support for multi-selection
- If a selection is inside an existing Markdown link/image or spans multiple lines, the clipboard text is pasted as-is without Markdown syntax
1.0.4
- When no text is selected, the two non "Ctrl+V" commands create a markdown link with empty brackets with cursor inside
1.0.5
- Change command names
- If a selection is inside an existing Markdown link/image or spans multiple lines: the two non "Ctrl+V" commands will add the Markdown link syntax (newlines will be replaced with spaces)
- Fix multi-selection (in document order and not) cursor placement issue
1.0.6
- Fix nested markdown link/image detection issue
1.1.0
- Fix cases when markdown image is selected
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