Need to quickly learn or recall Markdown syntax? Our Markdown Dictionary is here to help. It’s a standard macOS dictionary built for the Dictionary app, so it’s compatible with iA Writer, iA Presenter, and other Mac apps too.

Learn formatting directly in your editor. Right-click on elements like *, #, | or “emphasis”, “heading”, “tables” for instant help. The dictionary lets you quickly reference Markdown syntax without disrupting your workflow, ensuring accurate and consistent formatting across your documents.

How to use iA Markdown Dictionary

iA Markdown Dictionary is accessible anywhere on macOS. Its entries describe relevant syntax and examples. Right-click Markdown elements and choose Look Up for syntax tips.

Right-Click Elements: In your text editor, right-click on Markdown elements like # or |, or entire words such as “headline” or “table”.

Preview Info: A window pops up showing how to use the clicked element.

Learn and Reference: You can use the dictionary app directly for learning Markdown syntax.

See Examples: The window includes examples to clarify general and special usage.

Access the dictionary in any macOS text field to maintain focus on your writing, or explore it in the Dictionary app to broaden your Markdown expertise. Using it just a few times will quickly improve your Markdown game. It works in light and dark mode.

How to install

The dictionary is macOS only. Apple does not support custom dictionaries on iPad and iPhone just yet. To install the dictionary, please start here, then follow the steps below the download form.

  • Get iA Markdown Dictionary
  1. Uncompress the zip file.
  2. Open the Dictionary app, go to File → Open Dictionaries Folder.
  3. Drag and drop the “iA Markdown.dictionary” into the Dictionaries folder.
  4. Quit and reopen the Dictionary app, go to Dictionary → Settings, scroll to find iA Markdown at the bottom of the list, and make sure it’s enabled. Then drag it up to the position you would like it to appear when looking up terms in your apps.

Open Dictionaries Folder This will open a new window, simply drag and drop your unzipped iA Markdown dictionary file there.

Installed Dictionary This is how it should look. Quit and reopen the Dictionary app, then activate the dictionary in Settings.

The iA Markdown Dictionary is a work in progress. It covers markup used by iA Writer. It features standard and expanded Markdown, meaning tables, content blocks (transclusion) and wikilinks. We are working on adding Presenter-specific markup, soon. Please tell us if you have additional ideas and suggestions on how to improve it.

Oh, and we have one more surprise coming in this year’s iA Winterfest so head over there to download the iA Markdown Dictionary and get hints of what else is waiting under the tree.