(External) Markdown editor to easily add columns and cells

Hello,

after quite some research online and in this board I come to you in hope of advice.

I jsut learned about markdwn recently and started using it. It really helps me to write faster and distraction free. In general the DEVONthink markdown editor is sufficient. However there is one thing I find quite annoying and that is working with tables. In my note taking I am working a lot with tables and oftentimes have to add cells or columns. For this, the markdown format is not very user friendly. It works, but requirs quite some manual work.

Therefore I have been looking for an external markdown editor to add columns or cells to tables. My thinking goes this way: I write the markdown file in DEVONthink and if I need to work on the tables I open the file in the external markdown editor to edit the tables. Then save the file and return to DT. Does anyone have any idea which tool can do this?

I have been looking at Markdownguide Tools and several Apps, among others:

  • Typora
  • Typwriter
  • MacDown
  • Taio
  • Markdown Editor

So far Typora and Markdown Editor are the programs I like best, but both do not allow adding of columns or tables. I did not take a look at other note taking programs like Obsidian, iA Writer, Notion, Bear as these are overkill for my need.

I appreciate any tipp you can give me. Maybe I am doing something wrong?

Thank you very much!

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Well, as you can tell Markdown and Tables don’t necessary mix well. Tables are complicated. Do you really need to use Markdown, and if so why? Why not use something that does tables without missing a beat or breaking a sweat, e.g. Pages, Word, LibreOffice Writer, etc.

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Thanks for replying so fast. I like the small size and future proof of markdown. With Word I have had some issues converting from older to newer versions. Furthermore the preview rendering is not as fast as markdown and I have to have the programm installed when I want to open / edit. With markdown I am more flexible

Interesting. My experience with Word that it is pretty good with backward compatibility. Oh well.

The markdown gurus might have ideas. I prefer to keep things simple and try to eliminate friction when at the expense of doing something. Good luck with your writing with out put in markdown.

Thanks. The issue I had - and still have - with word is that the format changes slightly, especially for tables when switching form .doc to .docx :slight_smile:

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Wow, Jim, helpful as always!

This looks like a great tool! I just tested it a bit.

What I really like: When I import a markdown file with several tables TableFlip creates separate Tabs based on these tables. I can then edit these files and any other text I have in between is not changed. This is truly great! I can even copy rows from one table to the next. Just have to be careful that you have the same column amount as it does not add missing columns.

THANKS a lot!!!

Does anyone else know of a tool where I can edit text and tables [formerly read mistakenly “columns”]? That would be the icing on the cake :slight_smile:

You’re welcome :slight_smile:

I actually don’t use the app myself since I’m apparently a masochist that likes to hand-code my tables. :wink:

Does anyone else know of a tool where I can edit text and columns?

Markdown doesn’t natively create columns. Markdown is about content. CSS is about presentation. So you’d need to have a stylesheet that supports columns. Oddly, I was messing around with this yesterday :stuck_out_tongue:

OK, you lost me there. :wink:

However I just decided to buy TableFlip as it works really great also with inline text. You really are a godsend! :slight_smile:

Glad to be of assistance.

What are you referring to in regards to editing columns?

Unfortunate choice of words. Columns should be replaced by tables. I will change that in the post

Ha! No worries. :wink:

In my experience, Typora is actually pretty strong with tables.

What type of table support are you looking for?

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Hello jsco,

thanks, that was exactly the function I was looking for. Can you have text before and / or after the table or is this a separate function?

Thanks!

Yep! Works great for me. Typora really does have some pretty slick functionality.

Markdown view:

Great! I will have a look at that tool as well. I did like TableFlip as well, but if I can have text and tables in one tool I’d prefer taht. :slight_smile:

Bear (bear.app) is probably worth a look now. After an upgrade that spanned the pandemic, they are in the final stretch with Bear 2.0 (https://beta.bear.app/).

It handle tables well now, and has a broad suite of export options.

It also now conforms to Commonmark standards.

Ulysses handles tables. And just about anything else you throw at it.

Great Tools! Thank you very much for your great support and ideas!