Using Markdown instead of Org Mode

Using Markdown instead of Org Mode

I have recently abandoned using Org Mode, even though I love nearly everything about it.

The problem is that even though Org Mode documents are technically just plain text files, they are nearly useless outside of Emacs. Sometimes it’s nice to use a different editor. Sometimes it’s nice to edit using an iPad Pro.

So I’m back to using Markdown. Writing documents using Markdown can be done in any text editor. Most modern editors support Markdown very well. Files synced via Dropbox or whatever can be edited using any number of fine iOS-based editors. (I currently use Editorial)

It’s the flexibility of Markdown editor options that compelled me to abandon Org Mode. I still prefer Emacs for editing on the Mac, though. This is largely because of Pandoc Mode and Orgtbl Mode.

The combination of Markdown mode and Pandoc mode for Emacs provides many of the fancy bits of Org Mode, like folding, linking, etc. Pandoc mode makes exporting to multiple output formats almost as flexible as Org Mode.

Orgtbl-mode is a minor mode which allows me to work with Markdown-formatted tables as easily as I did in Org Mode. Very handy.

The gist is that with a little setup, writing and publishing using Markdown can be as easy and complete as with Org Mode, and I get to use whatever editor I choose, on both my Mac and my iPad.