How to format and clean up Markdown
Normalize messy Markdown into consistent, tidy source — fixing spacing, list markers, and heading style so your documents stay clean and diff well.
Markdown is forgiving, which is a blessing and a curse: inconsistent source renders fine but is miserable to maintain. The Markdown Formatter normalizes a document into clean, consistent source — the Markdown equivalent of running a code formatter.
What it normalizes
- Spacing — collapses runaway blank lines, ensures blank lines around headings and lists where they belong.
- List markers — makes bullets consistent (all
-instead of a mix of-,*,+). - Heading style — consistent
#ATX headings with single spacing. - Trailing whitespace — trimmed.
The rendered output doesn't change; the source becomes uniform.
Why consistent source matters
- Clean diffs. When everyone's Markdown is formatted the same way, pull-request diffs show real content changes instead of whitespace noise.
- Easier editing. Predictable structure means less time deciphering and more time writing.
- Fewer rendering surprises. Many "why won't this list render?" bugs are spacing issues a formatter fixes automatically.
Related cleanup tools
For sharper, single-purpose passes: Remove Empty Lines collapses blank-line runs, Normalize Headings standardizes heading style, and Fix Broken Markdown repairs common syntax slips. The Formatter rolls the common ones into one pass; to shrink a file for transport, the Minifier goes the other direction.
Privacy
Formatting runs in your browser — your document is never uploaded.
Paste the messy version, get tidy source, and keep your Markdown maintainable.