The editor

The editor is visual – text appears formatted as you write it – but what gets saved is Markdown. That matters more than it sounds: your work stays portable, and anything you can write by hand in Markdown you can write here.

Formatting

The toolbar covers the common operations. Ctrl+B / Cmd+B for bold and Ctrl+I / Cmd+I for italic work as you would expect.

You can also just type Markdown and watch it convert:

This is usually faster than reaching for the toolbar, and it means notes you already wrote in Markdown paste in cleanly.

Mathematics

Wrap inline mathematics in single dollar signs and display mathematics in double:

Euler's identity, $e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0$, relates five constants.
 
$$
\int_0^\infty e^{-x^2}\,dx = \frac{\sqrt{\pi}}{2}
$$

See Mathematics for the full syntax, the available macros, and how long formulae are handled.

Beyond the toolbar

The toolbar covers ordinary formatting. Diagrams, admonitions, figures with captions, collapsible sections, tabs, footnotes, and embedded video are written as Markdown rather than clicked – see the Markdown reference, particularly extensions.

Pasting

Plain text comes in as-is. Markdown is parsed and formatted. Rich text pasted from a word processor is cleaned up rather than carrying its original styling across.

Importing a document

If your work already exists as a file, import it instead of copying it in. LibreTimes converts Word documents (.docx) and LaTeX – either a single .tex file or a .zip containing the sources – into Markdown you can then edit.

Conversion is good, not perfect. Expect to check:

• Mathematics, especially anything using macros you defined yourself
• Figure placement and captions
• Tables with merged cells
• Bibliography entries and cross-references

Treat the result as a solid first draft rather than a finished import.

Preview

The preview tab renders your work exactly as readers will see it – same mathematics, same syntax highlighting, same figures. If something looks right in preview, it is right.

Check preview before publishing anything with a lot of mathematics. Formulae are where the difference between what you meant and what you typed usually shows up.

Drafts

Work in progress stays a draft until you publish it. Drafts are visible only to you.

Save often. The editor does not currently recover unsaved work if your session ends, so treat it like any other document you would not want to retype.

A few habits worth having

Use headings to structure anything long – they build the table of contents readers navigate by.

Write the first paragraph as though it is the only thing someone will read, because for most visitors it is.