Markdown Editing

Editing Basics

Once you have a document up, you can use Markdown syntax to structure your document. For example:

# Buoyancy

_From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia_

In [science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science), **buoyancy** is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the [weight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight) of an immersed object.

Here, the line that starts with # creates a heading. Matching underscores can be used to italicize text. Matching ** pairs define bold text. Links follow [title](https://link.com) syntax. And blank lines define paragraph boundaries. This simple example renders as:

For more, see the Markdown guide.

A few sample documents are available bundled with the app under the Help menu > Sample Documents. A Markdown Reference window can also be brought up via the Help menu.

Editing Commands

Common macOS editing commands such as Copy, Undo and Delete can be found under the Edit menu.

The Format and Insert submenus found under the Text menu can be used to quickly insert common Markdown syntax. For example, if you select some text and head over to the Text menu > Format > Bold, Archimedes will make the current text selection bold. Because menu items also have keyboard shortcuts, you can also simply press ⌘B.

In addition to full code support for GitHub-flavored Markdown, Archimedes supports the following convenience formatting commands in the UI:

  • Format
    • Bold
    • Italic
    • Strikethrough
    • Inline code
    • Center align
    • Right align
    • Superscript
    • Subscript
  • Insert
    • Heading 1-6
    • Code block
    • Blockquote
    • List
    • Numbered list
    • Table
    • Horizontal line
    • Page break
    • Link
    • Image

Archimedes can import images from disk with the Text > Insert > Image from Disk menu item.

Finally, the Comment Selection command can be used to quickly comment/uncomment a selected chunk of text. And the Shift Left and Shift Right commands can be used to shift text indentation left/right by one level.

Document Styles

Archimedes supports various document styles that can be set via the View > Document Styles menu item. These affect the font and theme of the typeset document.

Spelling and Grammar

Spelling and grammar checking happens live as you enter Markdown text. You can customize this via the Edit menu.

Find Support

If you want to find and replace text in your document, you can use the Edit > Find menu items or common keyboard shortcuts such as ⌘F.

Word Counting

A word counter is visible at the bottom of Archimedes document windows. If you click it, you can also view line counts, character counts, as well as reading time.

The table of contents navigator found at the top right of document windows can be used to quickly jump between Markdown headings.

To learn more about Archimedes or purchase the app, visit https://furnacecreek.org/archimedes/.