Technical Writing6 min read
The Ultimate Markdown Syntax Cheat Sheet for Content Teams
From plain text headings to GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) tables, task lists, and HTML compilation.
Written by Emily N.
•Published August 8, 2026
Target Keyword: markdown syntax guide / markdown cheat sheet
Created by John Gruber in 2004, Markdown has become the standard light-markup language powering modern documentation, GitHub README files, Notion, and headless CMS publishing.
Essential Markdown & GFM Elements
# Heading 1
## Heading 2
**Bold Text** and *Italic Text*
## Heading 2
**Bold Text** and *Italic Text*
- [x] Completed task
- [ ] Pending task
[Link Text](https://example.com)
- [ ] Pending task
[Link Text](https://example.com)
Convert Markdown to HTML in Real Time
Convert draft Markdown formatting into clean, semantic HTML code with side-by-side web preview in our Markdown to HTML Converter.