Text Tools guide

Markdown Cheatsheet: Everything You Actually Use

The 20% of Markdown syntax that handles 95% of writing — formatted as a quick reference.

3 min read Updated 2026-06-23 All Text Tools
Written by Priya Sharma, lead editor, toolstop. Reviewed by Arjun Mehta.

Markdown is the lingua franca of modern writing tools, from GitHub READMEs to Notion to Substack. Master a small core and you'll write faster everywhere.

Headings, emphasis, lists

# H1, ## H2, ### H3. **bold**, *italic*, `inline code`. Unordered lists with - or *; ordered lists with 1. 2. 3. — actual numbers don't matter.

Links and images

[text](url) for links. ![alt](url) for images. Reference-style links keep paragraphs clean: [text][1] then [1]: https://… at the bottom.

Code blocks

Triple backticks with a language tag for syntax highlighting: ```ts on the opener, ``` on the closer. Indent four spaces for a code block without highlighting.

Frequently asked questions

Mostly. GFM adds tables, task lists, strikethrough, and autolinks. Standard CommonMark omits these.
Marketer's toolkit

Text Tools is part of the Students toolkit

See the full workflow — combine Text Tools with the other free tools students use every day.

Keep exploring