Markdown Editor and Shell Extensions
Related links: embarcadero.com - learndelphi.org
A collection of tools for markdown files, to edit and view content:
A Markdown Text Editor to manually edit a markdown file, with instant preview of the output: the preview uses Microsoft Edge WebView2, so math formulas and mermaid diagrams are drawn as on GitHub.
A Preview handler which allows you to see the content of the markdown file without open it, in the "Preview Panel", integrated into Windows Explorer.
Documentation
Follow the Project Site to know all the markdown tools and the Delphi components: Markdown Processor, Markdown Text Editor and Markdown Help Viewer.
Features
No need to built the project with Delphi: an easy Setup is provided.
Supports Windows 10 and 11 (for 32 bits and 64 bits).
Themes (Dark and Light) according to user preferences of Windows Theme, with the VCL styles: Light: Sky, Windows Modern, Windows11 Impressive Light, Windows11 Modern Light, Windows11 Polar Light; Dark: Glow, Windows Modern SlateGray, Windows11 Impressive Dark, Windows11 Modern Dark, Windows11 Polar Dark
Uses the latest, empowered version of the Markdown Processor (2.1): CommonMark 0.31.2 and GitHub Flavored Markdown compliant engine. The default dialect is now GitHub (GFM + math formulas, alerts and mermaid diagrams, plus subscript, superscript, insert, mark, smart typography, heading ids, wiki links and videos); CommonMark, GFM, DaringFireball and TxtMark are still available.
The preview of the Markdown Text Editor uses Microsoft Edge WebView2 (TEdgeMarkdownViewer of the Markdown Help Viewer project): math formulas with KaTeX, mermaid diagrams, GitHub alerts, synchronized scroll with the editor. When WebView2 is not available, or it is disabled in the Settings ("Use WebView2 (Edge) when available"), the preview uses HTMLViewer. WebView2Loader.dll is distributed with the editor (installed by the Setup). KaTeX and mermaid.js are installed with the editor too (Scripts folder): math formulas, mermaid diagrams and charts (pie, bar and line charts) are drawn also without an Internet connection.
The Preview Panel of Windows Explorer keeps the internal HTML viewer (HTMLViewer): math formulas are shown as images and mermaid diagrams as text.
Videos in the documents (
.mp4,.webm...), written as an image of the video file:. The preview with WebView2 plays them; HTMLViewer shows a link that opens the player of the system.Images, videos and links are resolved as a browser does: write their path relative to the document, with
/(images/logo.png,../images/logo.png). The "Insert image" and "Insert link" dialogs of the editor write the paths so.Integrated also with other Shell Applications (like XYplorer)
Delphi: integration with MarkDown Help Viewer
- For Delphi developers: use this tool to prepare and integrate a Help System in your application, using the "MarkDown Help Viewer" project.
- Use the Markdown Text Editor to edit your help files and use the Markdown Help Viewer to show them.
Setup using the Installer
Click to download the MDShellExtensionsSetup.exe located also in the Release area. The Installer works both for 32 and 64 bit system.
For a clean Setup close all the windows explorer instances which have the preview handler active or the preview handler was used (remember the dll remains in memory until the windows explorer was closed).
Markdown Text Editor
A useful Text editor with instant preview of Markdown formatted content:
Manual Build and Installation (only for Delphi developers)
How to build the projects with Delphi and how to manually register the Shell Extensions is explained in the Manual Build and Installation page of the Project Site.
Preview Panel in action
In Windows 10 with Dark theme:
Manual Build and Installation (only for Delphi developers)
If you have Delphi 12 or 13, you can manually build the projects using:
\Source\MDShellExtensionsGroup.groupproj
or the command: Build.bat (defining location of your Delphi environment)
Warning: To simplyfy build of the projects, some third parties libraries are located into ext folder
To manually install the SVGShellExtensions.dll follow these steps:
Close all the windows explorer instances which have the preview handler active or the preview handler was used (remember the dll remains in memory until the windows explorer was closed).
If you have already used the installer uninstall the components from system.
To install manually the dll run the
Unregister_Register.cmd(run-as-administrator): notice that you must change the path into cmd file.
Release Notes
03 Nov 2026: ver. 3.1.5
- The editor and the preview use Ethea SynEdit 3.0.0 (https://github.com/EtheaDev/SynEdit), the EtheaDev fork of pyscripter/SynEdit with every unit under the
SynEdit.scope - Uses the Markdown Help Viewer 3.1.4
All the release notes: README on GitHub
Credits
Many thanks to Rodrigo Ruz V. (author of theroadtodelphi.com Blog) for his wonderful work on delphi-preview-handler from which this project has used a lot of code and inspiration.
License
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
Copyright © 2021-2026 Ethea S.r.l.
Credits
Author: Carlo Barazzetta
Contributors: Ariel Montes
Source project: https://github.com/EtheaDev/MarkdownShellExtensions
Other libraries from Ethea
Third party libraries
- Delphi Markdown
Copyright (c) 2011+, Health Intersections Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. - Delphi Preview Handler
The Initial Developer of the Original Code is Rodrigo Ruz V.
Portions created by Rodrigo Ruz V. are Copyright © 2011-2023 Rodrigo Ruz V. - VCL Styles Utils
Portions created by Rodrigo Ruz V. are Copyright © 2012-2023 Rodrigo Ruz V. (Mozilla Public License 1.1) - SynEdit (PyScripter fork)
Portions created by Martin Waldenburg are Copyright © 1998 Martin Waldenburg (Mozilla Public License 1.1) - Skia4Delphi
Copyright © 2021-2025 Skia4Delphi Project (MIT License) - Image32 Library
Copyright © 2019-2025 Angus Johnson (Boost Software License) - OpenSSL Library: Cryptography and SSL/TLS Toolkit
Copyright © 1998-2018 The OpenSSL Project. All rights reserved. - Synopse/SynPDF
Copyright © Synopse: all rights reserved. - HtmlToPdf
Copyright © Muzio Valerio. - HTMLViewer
Copyright (c) 1995 - 2008 by L. David Baldwin
Copyright (c) 1995 - 2023 by Anders Melander (DitherUnit.pas)
Copyright (c) 1995 - 2023 by Ron Collins (HtmlGif1.pas)
Copyright (c) 2008 - 2009 by Sebastian Zierer (Delphi 2009 Port)
Copyright (c) 2008 - 2010 by Arvid Winkelsdorf (Fixes)
Copyright (c) 2009 - 2023 by HtmlViewer Team - KaTeX
Copyright (c) 2013-2020 Khan Academy and other contributors (MIT License) - Mermaid
Copyright (c) 2014-2022 Knut Sveidqvist (MIT License) - dzlib
Copyright (c) Thomas Mueller
External projects
To simpilfy compilation of projects they are added into ext folder