A few simple steps to find your own writing rhythm.
01 / Start writing
Open Markdeck on your Mac and click New Document in the document navigator, or Open Document for existing work. Shortcuts: ⌘N to create, ⌘O to open.
Edit directly inside the formatted body. On an empty paragraph type / to insert a heading, list, quote, code block, table, or image. Select text to adjust its style with the formatting controls.
When you need to look things up
The top Outline controls section navigation; click a heading to jump into the body. Open Reference, pick another loaded document, and read while you write. Reference documents are read-only, so your source material stays safe.
02 / Files and images
Markdeck supports UTF-8 encoded .md, .markdown, and .txt files up to 10 MB each. Documents live on your Mac — no account required.
Why don't my images show up sometimes?
Markdown usually records only an image path, not the image itself. When a colleague sends you a .md file, you also need the folder it references.
Keep images inside the document folder or a subfolder, preserving the original relative paths.
Absolute paths from another machine, images outside the folder, or missing files can't be read directly. Use the missing-image prompt to reselect.
Online images need a connection; local images are limited to 10 MB per file.
In documents already saved to a file, newly inserted images are placed in a document-name.assets/ folder next to the file. Click an image and drag a corner to scale proportionally; adjacent images can form two- or three-column groups.
03 / Outline your thinking
Click Outline at the top to spread the document's sections across a canvas. Choose the heading level that suits you — you don't have to change the original headings to use the canvas.
Drag cards to arrange them, and expand sub-headings inside a card.
Drag from a card edge to another card to create a connection.
Drop in a sticky note where a judgement is still forming, or use a group frame to collect related items.
Card positions, connections, and sticky notes are stored separately — they never rearrange your Markdown body. They live in the desktop app's workspace data, so sharing a .md file alone will not include this canvas.
04 / Present the document
Click Present at the top for a read-only view. Jump between chapters, go fullscreen, or temporarily highlight selected text. Highlights clear when you exit.
Say only what this moment needs
Open Section Plan, check the chapters you want to cover, and use the arrows to set the order. Choose Present in the chosen order to walk through each chapter; use arrow keys to switch and Esc to exit.
Presentation plans are saved independently of the body, so you can keep different plans for different occasions. They don't reorder the original and don't auto-convert the body into slides.
05 / Save and share
New documents start as an app draft. Once you choose Save to File, edits write back to the chosen file automatically — a Saved to file indicator appears at the top. Use ⌘S to save on demand and ⇧⌘S to save a copy.
To review changes, enable Revision History in settings. If the file is modified by another app, Markdeck surfaces the conflict so you can refresh with the disk version or save your copy elsewhere.
Pick a share format for your reader
Markdown: good for ongoing edits and compatible with other Markdown tools.
Document + images bundle: export a ZIP that keeps local images and relative paths. Online images still need a connection.
HTML: good for browser reading, with styles and readable images embedded on export.
PDF: good for delivery and print, exported in A4 light pages. Check pagination for long docs or complex tables.