Copy Markdown Formatted

Copy Markdown as formatted HTML to the clipboard. Paste it into Outlook, Teams, Word, or any rich text editor with full styling preserved.

Features

• Copy Selection as Formatted HTML — select text in a Markdown file and copy it with formatting
• Copy File as Formatted HTML — copy the entire Markdown file with formatting
• Configure Copy Formatted… — opens the settings filtered to this extension

All three commands are available via:

• Right-click context menu (in Markdown files)
• Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P > "Markdown: ...")

Usage

1. Open a Markdown file in VS Code
2. Optionally select a portion of text
3. Right-click and choose "Copy Selection as Formatted HTML" or "Copy File as Formatted HTML"
4. Paste into Outlook, Teams, Word, or any application that accepts rich text (Ctrl+V)

To change fonts, sizes, or the blockquote-stripping behavior, use "Configure Copy Formatted…" from the same context menu (see Settings).

The pasted content will include styled headings, bold/italic text, code blocks, tables, lists, blockquotes, and links.

Paste as "Keep Source Formatting"

Most application require "Keep Source Formatting" to preserve fonts, colors, backgrounds, and spacing.

Outlook Classic

After Ctrl+V, click the small paste-options icon that appears and select "Keep Source Formatting".

New Outlook

Two options:

1. Per paste: Click the Paste icon (or Ctrl+V), select "Keep Source Formatting", then confirm with "Paste anyway" in the dialog that appears.
2. Permanent setting: Go to Settings > Mail > Compose and reply > set "Paste from other programs" to "Keep Source Formatting". After this, Ctrl+V always preserves the formatting.

Supported Elements

Markdown	Rendered as
# Heading	Styled headings (H1–H6)
**bold** / *italic*	Bold and italic text
`code`	Inline code with background
```lang	Fenced code blocks with syntax highlighting (highlight.js, GitHub light theme)
> Quote	Styled blockquotes (or stripped to normal paragraphs when the entire input is quoted — see stripBlockquote in Settings)
Tables	Bordered tables with header styling
- item / 1. item	Unordered and ordered lists (with custom start number)
- [x] / - [ ]	Task lists with checkbox characters
[link](url)	Clickable links
	Inline images (external URLs only — see Known Limitations)
---	Horizontal rules
--- ... --- frontmatter	YAML frontmatter is stripped automatically

Body text uses the Aptos font at 11pt (with Segoe UI / Calibri / Arial fallbacks) to match the default font and size of new Outlook / Microsoft 365. Fonts and sizes are configurable — see Settings.

Settings

Open via the command "Markdown: Configure Copy Formatted…" or VS Code Settings (filter @ext:ardimedia.copy-markdown-formatted):

Setting	Default	Description
copyMarkdownFormatted.stripBlockquote	true	If every non-empty line starts with > (e.g. quoted email reply), strip one level of blockquote marker before converting. Renders as normal paragraphs instead of a blockquote.
copyMarkdownFormatted.font.body	Aptos, 'Segoe UI', Calibri, Arial, sans-serif	Font family stack for body text, headings, lists, and tables.
copyMarkdownFormatted.font.bodySize	11	Body font size in points. Headings scale automatically (h1 = body + 13pt down to h6 = body + 1pt).
copyMarkdownFormatted.font.code	Cascadia Mono, Consolas, Courier New, monospace	Font family stack for inline code and fenced code blocks.
copyMarkdownFormatted.font.codeSize	10	Code font size in points.
copyMarkdownFormatted.windows.clipboardMode	persistentHost	Windows only. persistentHost keeps a background PowerShell process ready so copies after the first are near-instant; oneShot starts a fresh PowerShell per copy (slower, no background process).

Platform Support

Platform	Status	Clipboard tool
Windows	Supported	PowerShell 7 (pwsh) if installed, else Windows PowerShell (built-in)
macOS	Supported	Swift (built-in)
Linux (X11)	Supported	xclip (install: sudo apt install xclip)
Linux (Wayland)	Supported	wl-copy (install: sudo apt install wl-clipboard)

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85.0 or newer
• Windows: Windows PowerShell (pre-installed). PowerShell 7 (pwsh) is used automatically when installed — clipboard copies are noticeably faster with it
• macOS: Swift runtime (pre-installed with Xcode CLI tools)
• Linux: xclip (X11) or wl-clipboard (Wayland)

Known Limitations

• Images: Web image URLs (https://...) work — Outlook fetches them when rendering. Local file paths (./image.png) will not display because the recipient has no access to your filesystem. Embedding images via base64 data URIs is not possible because Outlook strips data: URIs for security reasons. CID embedding requires MIME multipart, which the clipboard format does not support.
• Language / spell check: The HTML output does not include a lang attribute, so email clients may flag words as misspelled when the content language differs from the application's default. Automatic language detection would add a dependency with uncertain accuracy — especially on short texts — and Outlook Classic primarily relies on its own proofing language settings rather than the HTML lang attribute.
• macOS and Linux clipboard support has not yet been tested on those platforms.

License

MIT