Released: 3/17/2025
Versions: Elliott V8.6 and Higher
Background
Some exciting new Elliott technology is coming. One part of this new technology will make use of existing Elliott Notes, but the content will be presented in a richer format. Beginning in V8.6, we will make it easy to add simple markers (defined in the Markdown language) to freeform Notes that will allow for richer formatting without detracting too much from the current, plain text usage of Notes.
[From ChatGPT]
Markdown is a lightweight markup language used for formatting text. Here are some basic markers for Markdown:
-
Headings: Use
#for headers. The number of#signs determines the level of the heading.# Heading 1## Heading 2### Heading 3, etc.
-
Bold: Use
**or__to bold text.**bold text**or__bold text__
-
Italic: Use
*or_to italicize text.*italic text*or_italic text_
-
Strikethrough: Use
~~to strikethrough text.~~strikethrough~~
-
Unordered Lists: Use
-,*, or+followed by a space.- Item 1* Item 2+ Item 3
-
Ordered Lists: Use numbers followed by a period.
1. First item2. Second item
-
Links: Use square brackets for the link text and parentheses for the URL.
[Link text](https://www.example.com)
-
Images: Similar to links, but with an exclamation mark in front.
-
Code (inline): Use backticks (`) for inline code.
`code`
-
Code Blocks: Use three backticks (```) or indent with 4 spaces.
- ```
Code block
Copy
- Blockquotes: Use
>to create blockquotes.
> This is a blockquote
- Horizontal Line: Use three dashes, asterisks, or underscores.
---***___
These are the most basic and commonly used Markdown elements.
Adding Markdown to Freeform Elliott Notes
When you right-click on the content of a freeform note, you will see a new popup menu option, Preview Markdown:
When you select Preview MarkDown, it will launch a website where you can add Markdown characters and see immediately how they affect the formatted text:
The left side shows the plain text copied from the Elliott Notes screen. The right side will be used to show any formatting you will apply. Let's make bullet points of these items, by inserting "- " (a dash and one space) at the beginning of each line on the left:
The bullet points are shown on the right. Let's now change them to a numbered list. Just replace the "- " at the beginning of each line by a number, a period, and a space:
Finally, let's bold the categories by placing "**" around text to be bolded:
You can see that adding just a few special characters provides for nicely formatted information, without detracting too much from the plain text source.
Saving the Changes
When you are finished making the changes, click on the left side, press Ctrl-A (highlight all) and then Ctrl-C (copy the block):
Return to the Elliott Notes screen. Click on the note content, press Ctrl+Home, then Ctrl+Shift+End (highlight all), and finally Ctrl+V, to paste back the content:
Save the Note. You now have your freeform note annotated with Markdown language, ready to be nicely formatted for the coming technology.
Programs: NOTEUPD8, ELEMAIL
JEG