Automatic Quotes, Brackets, and Selection Wrapping

Automatic Quotes, Brackets, and Selection Wrapping

Markdown includes many paired characters: link labels use square brackets, inline values often use quotes, and technical notes regularly include braces or parentheses. Markdown Explorer completes these pairs while you type so the closing character is not forgotten.

Characters that close automatically

Type any opening character below in the Markdown editor:

'
"
[
{
(

The editor inserts its matching closing character and leaves the cursor between the pair:

'|'
"|"
[|]
{|}
(|)

Here, | represents the cursor. Type the content and then press the closing character or the right arrow to continue after the pair.

Wrap text that is already written

Automatic pairing also works on a selection. Select release notes, then type (. The result is:

(release notes)

The same workflow produces 'release notes', "release notes", [release notes], or {release notes}. It is useful when turning existing text into a Markdown link label:

1. Select installation guide.
2. Press [.
3. Type ( after the generated ].
4. Enter the target path.

[installation guide](./installation.md)

A practical example

Suppose a paragraph starts as:

Run npm install before opening the project.

Select npm install and use the editor’s inline-code shortcut, Cmd/Ctrl + E, when you want Markdown code formatting. Use automatic quotes and brackets for literal punctuation, link labels, or prose instead.

When a pair should remain literal

The feature only reacts to supported opening characters. It does not rewrite existing punctuation elsewhere in the document. Undo immediately with Cmd/Ctrl + Z if the pair was not intended.

Next, learn how to move lines without cutting and pasting.