Use Markdown in Google Docs, Slides, & Drawings

You can use Markdown to quickly add formatting elements to your Google Docs, Slides, and Drawings. With Markdown, you can format text to add:

On Google Docs, you can also use Markdown to create different headings.

Turn Markdown on or off

On your computer, open a file in Google Docs, Google Slides, or Google Drawings.
Go to Tools Preferences.
Check/uncheck the box next to “Automatically detect Markdown”.

To format text as italic, enclose it in a single asterisk or underscore.
To format text as bold, enclose it in two asterisks or underscores.
To format text as italic and bold, enclose it in three asterisks or underscores.
To format text in strikethrough, enclose it in a single tilde.

Text in Markdown	How it appears
`This text is _italic_.` `This text is italic.`	This text is italic.
`This text is __bold__.` `This text is bold.`	This text is bold.
`This text is ___italic and bold___.` `This text is *italic and bold*.`	This text is *italic and bold*.
`This text is in ~strikethrough~.`	This text is in strikethrough.

To create a link with Markdown:

Write the linked text in brackets (e.g. [Google Docs]).
After the bracketed text, write the URL in parentheses (e.g. (https://docs.google.com/document/)).
- Important: Don’t include a space between the text in brackets and the URL in parentheses.

Text in Markdown	How it appears
`Open a file in [Google Docs](https://docs.google.com/document/).`	Open a file in Google Docs.

If you’re on Google Docs, you can also use Markdown to create up to 6 different headings.

To create a heading,

Start at the beginning of a paragraph.
Add number signs (#) in front of your heading text. The number of number signs you use corresponds to the heading level.
- For example, to create a heading 2, use two number signs (e.g., ## My Header).
Write your heading text.
- Important: Make sure you include a space between the number sign(s) and the heading text.