User Guide
Everything you need to know to get started with AsciiMark and make the most of its features.
Installation
Chrome Extension
Coming soon. AsciiMark will be available on the Chrome Web Store in a future release.
Desktop App (Tauri)
Coming soon. A native desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux is under development.
Opening Files
There are several ways to open documents in AsciiMark:
Open Folder
Click the Open Folder button to select a directory from your filesystem. AsciiMark will display all .adoc and .md files in a navigable file tree.
Drag & Drop
Drag and drop folders or individual files directly onto the AsciiMark window. Dropping a folder populates the file tree; dropping a file opens it immediately for preview.
Extension Mode
When you navigate to a URL ending in .adoc or .md, AsciiMark automatically detects the file and renders it as formatted HTML. This works with remote URLs served over https://.
File URL Access
To render local files opened via file:// URLs:
- Go to
chrome://extensions - Find AsciiMark and click Details
- Enable Allow access to file URLs
With this enabled, opening a local .adoc or .md file in Chrome will automatically render it through AsciiMark.
Table of Contents
A collapsible table of contents panel displays all headings in the current document. The TOC is auto-generated from the heading hierarchy and highlights the currently visible section as you scroll.
Search
Search in File Tree
Type in the file tree search box to filter files by name. The tree updates in real time, showing only files matching your query.
Search in Preview
Press Ctrl+F to open a search overlay within the document preview. Matching terms are highlighted, and you can navigate between results.
Editor
Inline Editor (Split View)
Toggle the inline editor to get a side-by-side split view with the source on the left and the rendered preview on the right. The editor is powered by CodeMirror with syntax highlighting.
Save Changes
Press Ctrl+S to save your edits directly to disk via the File System Access API.
Appearance
Theme
Choose between three theme options:
- Light — A clean light interface
- Dark — A dark interface that reduces eye strain
- System — Automatically matches your operating system's color scheme
Code Syntax Theme
Select from multiple syntax highlighting themes for code blocks (GitHub, Atom One, Nord, Tokyo Night).
Font Size & Family
Adjust the font size and font family for the document preview from the settings panel.
Document Processing
AsciiDoc
Full rendering via @asciidoctor/core with support for admonitions, tables, source blocks, cross-references, and recursive include:: resolution.
Markdown
Rendered via markdown-it with 14 plugins: task lists, footnotes, definition lists, abbreviations, sub/sup, emoji, KaTeX math, GitHub alerts, advanced tables, custom containers, and more.
Diagrams
Mermaid
Fenced code blocks with the mermaid language tag are rendered as diagrams directly in the browser. Supports flowcharts, sequence diagrams, Gantt charts, class diagrams, and more.
Kroki
For PlantUML, Ditaa, Graphviz, and other diagram formats, AsciiMark uses Kroki for rendering.
Export
- Print to PDF — Press Ctrl+P for print-optimized output with "Save as PDF" option.
- Download PDF — Direct PDF generation via html2pdf.js without the print dialog.
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+S | Save current document |
| Ctrl+F | Search in preview |
| Ctrl+B | Toggle sidebar |
| Ctrl+E | Toggle editor |
| Ctrl+P | Print / Export to PDF |
On macOS, use Cmd instead of Ctrl.