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In iOS 26, currently in beta, Apple Notes has gained new Markdown support, letting you seamlessly import and export files in the popular plain-text formatting language. Whether you're a developer, writer, or content creator, this long-awaited feature should bridge the gap between your existing Markdown workflow and Apple's native note-taking app.

ios-26-notes-app-markdown.jpg

For those unfamiliar with Markdown, it's a simple way of writing that uses plain text symbols (like ** for bold or # for headings) to format documents without complicated menus. It's popular because the same text works both as easy-to-read notes and as polished, styled content when exported.

In Apple's Notes app, the new functionality works both ways: you can bring existing Markdown files into Notes while preserving formatting like headings, links, and lists, or export your Notes content as Markdown for use in other apps. The following steps show you how to do both.

Bear in mind that Notes doesn't display Markdown syntax while you're writing – it continues to show rich text formatting as usual. The Markdown conversion happens during the import and export process, so you'll see the plain text formatting only when viewing the file outside of Notes.
Import Markdown Files into Notes

  1. Locate your Markdown (.md) file on your iPhone (e.g., in Files or your writing app).
  2. Open the file, tap Share, then choose Notes.
  3. Tap Import at the prompt to save the file to an Imported Notes folder.
import-markdown-notes-ios.jpg


If you're working in the Notes app on an iPad running iPadOS 26, you can also choose File ➝ Import to Notes… from the Notes menu bar (accessed with a swipe down from the top of the screen). Select your Markdown file from the files interface, then tap Import to confirm the import.

Once the note is imported, look for the Imported Notes folder where your note will be saved. Then you can verify that key formatting has been preserved in the note. When you import a Markdown file, Notes automatically converts the plain text formatting into rich text, preserving headings, links, bulleted lists, and text styling like bold and italics.

Export Notes in Markdown Format

  1. In Notes, open the note you want to export.
  2. Tap the Share icon in the top-right corner.
  3. Select Export as Markdown.
  4. Choose where to share or save the markdown file from the share sheet options.
ios-notes-export-markdown.jpg


The exported file retains the note's structure and formatting as standard Markdown syntax, making it compatible with text editors, documentation tools, and publishing platforms that support the format.

Apple is expected to officially release iOS 26 in September.

Article Link: iOS 26: Import and Export Markdown Files in Apple Notes
 
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I'm glad they're doing this for interoperability, but on a practical level I only care to use Markdown when I can hide the cluttery _formatting_ *characters* as much as possible. Conceptually, I think Markdown is very elegant, but I don't want to have the "how the sausage is made" part in my face all the time. I use Ulysses a lot and it does let me dial down the color of the Markdown so it's not visible, but it still junks up the spacing and flow of text. I have used another app (forgetting the name) which optionally will entirely hide Markdown tags, and I think that's the best way to go IMO.
 
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Quite funny that this is the year they added Markdown support but ditched John Gruber as interviewer 🤣

Also funny, Gruber himself doesn't actually think Markdown is a good fit for Apple Notes:
Some people find this surprising, but I personally don’t want to use a Markdown notes app. I created Markdown two decades ago and have used it ever since for one thing and one thing only: writing for the web at Daring Fireball. My original description of what it is still stands: “Markdown is a text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers.” Perhaps an even better description of Markdown is Matthew Butterick’s, from the documentation for Pollen: “Markdown is a simplified notation system for HTML.”

The other great use case for Markdown is in a context where you either need or just want to be saving to a plain text file or database field. That’s not what Apple Notes is or should be. I can see why many technically-minded people want to use Markdown “everywhere”. It’s quite gratifying that Markdown has not only become so popular, but after 21 years, continues to grow in popularity, to the point now where there clearly are a lot of people who seemingly enjoy writing in Markdown more than even I do. But I think it would be a huge mistake for Apple to make Apple Notes a “Markdown editor”, even as an option. It’s trivial to create malformed Markdown syntax; it shouldn’t be possible to have a malformed note in Apple Notes. I craft posts for Daring Fireball; I dash off notes in Apple Notes.
 
I'm glad they're doing this for interoperability, but on a practical level I only care to use Markdown when I can hide the cluttery _formatting_ *characters* as much as possible. Conceptually, I think Markdown is very elegant, but I don't want to have the "how the sausage is made" part in my face all the time. I use Ulysses a lot and it does let me dial down the color of the Markdown so it's not visible, but it still junks up the spacing and flow of text. I have used another app (forgetting the name) which optionally will entirely hide Markdown tags, and I think that's the best way to go IMO.
I highly recommend Obsidian. It completely hides the markdown formatting characters, and is generally one of the more elegant applications I've used. It's also free.
 
Would love the ability to 'paste as markdown'. If you have raw markdown that you want to paste into notes, the current file import is too complicated. Is there a way around this?
 
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Much needed. Glad that it is finally available. Will definitely be using it once I update my iPad.
 
Can you import checkboxes? I couldn't get that to work via Markdown and it's sorely needed, but hopefully I'm missing something.

I have a ton of markdown iterations of shopping lists and recipes etc. and it's a pain to convert each sub-list to checkboxes when they are separated by headings or instructions since it just double indents with the, basically ascii equivalent import it does now.
 
Can you import checkboxes? I couldn't get that to work via Markdown and it's sorely needed, but hopefully I'm missing something.

I have a ton of markdown iterations of shopping lists and recipes etc. and it's a pain to convert each sub-list to checkboxes when they are separated by headings or instructions since it just double indents with the, basically ascii equivalent import it does now.

Here's what I get:
Screenshot 2025-09-03 at 4.36.58 PM.png

iMac 2025-09-03 at 4.37.57 PM.png

BTW, I'm finding running the beta in a virtual machine is a nice way to play around with it without subjecting my Mac to potential bugs. VirtualBuddy is very easy for this (and free).
 
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