Alt Text - Markdown and Source Editor allows you to edit Confluence pages using both markdown and the XML-based Storage Format native to Confluence.
The editor seamlessly converts between the two formats, and when you save your page, the Storage Format is saved to Confluence in the same manner used by the native Confluence editor. The markdown is discarded until Alt Text Editor is opened again and markdown is re-generated from the Storage Format.
This approach differs from other (great!) Confluence Cloud add-ons and Confluence Server/Data Center plugins that work with markdown in that those solutions wrap your markdown in a macro and persist it to be seen by future editors.
Working with raw Storage Format and markdown, instead, affords several benefits:
- Markdown locked up in a macro prevents the usage of Confluence-specific features like user links, and other macros. Alt Text Editor supports markdown versions of macros, tables, complex links, and all other Confluence elements
- Many users might prefer to author big chunks of content with markdown but make minor tweaks (ex: color & styles) using the default Confluence editor
- Some people on your team simply may prefer to never use markdown. Alt Text Editor allows people to edit their way
When editing Markdown, Alt Text Editor follows the latest CommonMark spec where compatible with Confluence Storage Format.
This is the case for most Confluence content. For example, to create a list, the CommonMark list guide can be followed directly.
Where incompatible, directive markdown extensions are used to supplement CommonMark's inability to express Confluence elements.
Installation and Compatibility
Alt Text - Markdown and Source Editor can be installed for Confluence Cloud, Confluence Data Center or Confluence Server from the Atlassian Marketplace
No matter how you install it, the editor will process the markdown and Storage Format identically. However, you might find that the default Confluence editor treats that Storage Format differently depending on how your site is hosted.
For example, Confluence Cloud is perfectly capable of storing the <small>text</small> Storage Format element as described by the style examples. But the published page will not show small text, nor does the Confluence Cloud editor (currently) allow you to see or edit the size of a piece of text.
In contrast, the Confluence Data Center editor does allow you to modify the size of text, and its renderer will show that text resized once the page is published.