Typora Keyboard Shortcuts
Typora's defining trait is that it has no separate preview pane at all — typing ## and a space instantly transforms into a rendered heading in place, which means its shortcuts are less about toggling between 'edit' and 'view' modes (since there's only one mode) and more about triggering Markdown formatting instantly through familiar rich-text-editor-style combinations. Ctrl/Cmd+B for bold and Ctrl/Cmd+I for italic work exactly as they would in Word, but under the hood they're inserting and removing Markdown asterisks rather than applying a separate formatting layer, which is the core trick that makes Typora feel like a WYSIWYG editor while still producing plain, portable Markdown files. Because the source is always plain Markdown, Typora's outline and heading-navigation shortcuts double as a genuine document structure tool, letting long technical documents or notes be navigated by heading level the same way you might browse a Word document's navigation pane, without ever leaving the single live-rendered view. Because Typora treats a document as always-rendered rather than toggling between source and preview, exporting to other formats (PDF, HTML, Word) produces output that closely matches what you've been seeing on screen throughout the writing process, without the surprise formatting shifts that can occur exporting from an editor where source and rendered views diverge more visibly. Its theme system lets users customize the visual appearance of the live-rendered view considerably, including custom CSS themes, while the underlying saved file remains unaffected plain Markdown regardless of which theme is currently active. Blockquotes and strikethrough round out the core Markdown formatting vocabulary available through both dedicated shortcuts and typed syntax shortcuts, and the folder-based file tree sidebar extends Typora beyond single-document editing into something closer to a lightweight project-wide Markdown workspace once you open a folder rather than an individual file.
Formatting
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bold selected text | Ctrl+B | Cmd+B | Wraps the selected text in double asterisks and renders it bold immediately in place, rather than showing the raw Markdown syntax alongside a separate preview. |
| Italicize selected text | Ctrl+I | Cmd+I | Wraps the selected text in single asterisks and renders it italic in place, following the same live-rendering approach as bold. |
| Apply heading level (1-6) | Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+6 | Cmd+1 through Cmd+6 | Converts the current line into a heading of the chosen level. Typora writes the same # markdown characters into the underlying file but immediately hides them from view once the cursor leaves that line, rendering the heading at its proper enlarged size directly in the editor — the WYSIWYG behavior that most clearly separates its editing philosophy from a plain-text-visible markdown editor. |
| Insert link | Ctrl+K | Cmd+K | Opens a small inline editor to add a URL to the selected text or cursor position, converting it into a Markdown link that renders as clickable text rather than showing brackets and parentheses. |
| Insert a footnote | Ctrl+Alt+F (varies) | Cmd+Option+F | Inserts a numbered footnote reference using standard Markdown footnote syntax, rendering as a small superscript number in the live view rather than showing the raw syntax. |
| Insert bulleted list | Ctrl+Shift+] (varies) or type "- " | Cmd+Shift+] | Turns the current line into a bulleted list item, whether triggered by the shortcut directly or simply by typing a hyphen and a space at the line's start, which Typora picks up on and converts on its own. |
| Insert blockquote | Ctrl+Shift+Q (varies) or type "> " | Cmd+Shift+Q | Converts the current line into a blockquote, rendered with the indentation and side border styling typical of quoted text, triggered either via shortcut or typing a right-angle bracket at the line start. |
| Strikethrough selected text | Ctrl+Shift+X (varies) | Cmd+Shift+X | Puts double tildes around the selection and shows the strikethrough effect right where the text sits, matching Typora's whole approach of never separating a raw-Markdown view from a rendered preview. |
Document Navigation
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toggle document outline panel | Ctrl+Shift+1 (varies) | Cmd+Shift+1 | Shows or hides a sidebar outline built automatically from the document's heading structure, letting you jump to any section of a long document without scrolling manually. |
| Find in document | Ctrl+F | Cmd+F | Opens the find bar to search within the current document, standard convention shared with virtually all text editors. |
| Toggle file tree sidebar | Ctrl+Shift+L (varies) | Cmd+Shift+L | Shows or hides the sidebar file tree for the currently open folder, letting you navigate between multiple Markdown files in the same project without a separate file browser window. |
Editing
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insert code block | Ctrl+Shift+K | Cmd+Shift+K | Inserts a fenced code block with language-aware syntax highlighting; Typora renders it with a monospace font and shaded background on the fly, hiding the triple-backtick fence characters from view entirely. |
| Insert table | Ctrl+T (varies) or Table menu | — | Inserts a basic Markdown table structure that becomes an interactively editable grid in Typora's rendered view, letting you tab between cells rather than manually aligning pipe characters. |
| Export document as PDF | File menu > Export > PDF (no dedicated key) | — | Exports the current document to PDF, producing output that closely matches the live-rendered view since there's no separate preview mode to diverge from what's already been displayed throughout writing. |
| Switch document theme | Theme menu (no dedicated key) | — | Changes the visual theme applied to the live-rendered view, including support for custom CSS themes, while the underlying saved Markdown file remains completely unaffected regardless of which theme is currently active. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Since Typora renders formatting live, does the underlying file actually stay plain Markdown?
Yes — this is central to Typora's design philosophy. What you see is a live-rendered view of standard Markdown syntax, but the saved file is plain, portable .md text with no proprietary formatting, meaning it opens correctly in any other Markdown editor, GitHub, or a plain text editor exactly as intended.
Can I see the raw Markdown syntax if I want to, or is it hidden permanently?
Syntax characters like ** or # typically appear briefly when your cursor is directly inside or near that formatted text, then hide again once you move away, giving you access to the raw syntax for editing without permanently cluttering the view — this is different from a toggle between two fixed modes.
Does Typora support keyboard shortcuts for math equations or diagrams?
Yes, Typora supports inline and block LaTeX-style math rendering along with Mermaid-based diagrams, both triggered by typing the appropriate Markdown/LaTeX syntax directly (like $$ for a math block) rather than a dedicated keyboard shortcut menu, consistent with its overall philosophy of typing standard syntax that renders live rather than using toolbar-triggered insertions.
Will exporting to PDF or Word surprise me with different formatting than what I saw while writing?
Generally no, since Typora's live-rendered view already shows formatting as it will largely appear, exports to PDF, HTML, or Word tend to closely match what was displayed on screen throughout writing, avoiding the more visible formatting-shift surprises that can occur in editors where the source and rendered views diverge more significantly.
Can I customize how Typora looks without changing the actual file content?
Yes, Typora's theme system, including support for custom CSS themes, changes only the visual appearance of the live-rendered view; the underlying saved file remains plain, portable Markdown completely unaffected by which theme happens to be active at the time.
Does Typora support academic-style footnotes?
Yes, standard Markdown footnote syntax is supported and renders as a small superscript reference number directly in the live view, with the corresponding footnote text appearing at the document's end, following the same portable syntax any other Markdown-aware tool would recognize.
Is Typora a one-time purchase or a subscription?
Typora is sold as a one-time purchase license rather than a recurring subscription, consistent with its positioning as a lightweight, focused writing tool rather than a continuously billed service.
Can Typora open and manage a whole folder of Markdown files, or just one document at a time?
Yes, opening a folder rather than a single file reveals a file tree sidebar for navigating between every Markdown document within it, which is commonly used for a folder of interlinked notes or a documentation project spanning several files, rather than treating Typora purely as a single-document editor.