Here are some excellent Windows markdown editors that offer both preview capabilities and pandoc integration:
Zettlr
A powerful academic writing tool with built-in pandoc integration. It offers live preview, excellent citation management, and can export to numerous formats via pandoc. Great for academic papers and long-form writing.
Typora
One of the most popular markdown editors with seamless live preview (WYSIWYG-style). While not having direct pandoc integration in the UI, it works well with pandoc through custom export commands and has excellent preview capabilities.
Mark Text
A real-time preview markdown editor that’s lightweight and fast. You can configure it to work with pandoc for advanced export options, and it has a clean, distraction-free interface.
ghostwriter
A distraction-free markdown editor with live HTML preview. It has built-in pandoc support for exporting to various formats and offers a clean, focused writing experience.
Visual Studio Code
With extensions like “Markdown All in One” and “Pandoc Citer,” VS Code becomes a powerful markdown environment. The “Markdown Preview Enhanced” extension adds excellent preview capabilities, and you can easily configure pandoc integration through tasks or extensions.
Obsidian
While primarily a note-taking app, Obsidian has excellent markdown preview capabilities. You can add pandoc integration through community plugins or custom commands for advanced export functionality.
For the best pandoc integration out of the box, I’d recommend Zettlr or ghostwriter. For the smoothest preview experience, Typora is hard to beat. If you want maximum customizability, VS Code with the right extensions gives you the most control over both preview styling and pandoc workflows.
Here are great markdown editors for Mac and Linux that offer previews and pandoc integration:
Cross-Platform Options
Most of the editors I mentioned for Windows also work excellently on Mac and Linux:
Zettlr - Available on all platforms with identical functionality Visual Studio Code - Same great extensions work across platforms Mark Text - Cross-platform with consistent features Obsidian - Available on Mac and Linux with full feature parity
Mac-Specific Standouts
MacDown - Native Mac app with live preview and pandoc export options Marked 2 - Premium Mac app that’s primarily a preview tool but integrates beautifully with any text editor and has excellent pandoc support iA Writer - Clean, focused writing with preview capabilities (though pandoc integration requires some setup) Ulysses - Premium writing app with excellent export options, though not specifically pandoc-focused
Linux-Specific Options
ReText - Lightweight Qt-based editor with live preview and pandoc support ghostwriter - Also available on Linux with full pandoc integration Vim/Neovim - With plugins like vim-pandoc and markdown preview plugins, becomes incredibly powerful for markdown + pandoc workflows Emacs - With markdown-mode and pandoc-mode, offers comprehensive markdown editing and pandoc integration
Terminal-Based (Mac/Linux)
Glow - Beautiful terminal-based markdown viewer Pandoc + your favorite editor - Many Linux/Mac users prefer combining a text editor (like Vim, Emacs, or even nano) with direct pandoc command-line usage
For Mac, Marked 2 paired with any text editor is particularly popular among power users. For Linux, ReText offers a great balance of simplicity and functionality, while ghostwriter provides a more polished experience. The cross-platform options like Zettlr and VS Code often provide the most consistent experience if you work across multiple operating systems.