MD-Word

An add-in for Microsoft Word that adds a Markdown group to the Home tab with two buttons: Insert Markdown (converts the clipboard's Markdown text into native, fully editable Word content — headings, lists, tables, bold/italic, subscript/superscript, highlight, underline, code, links, LaTeX formulas as Word equations) and Copy as Markdown (the reverse conversion — turns the selected Word fragment back into Markdown).

Installation

1. Download MD-Word-Setup-<version>.exe from the Releases page.
2. Double-click to run it — administrator rights are not required, the install is per-user only.
3. Go through the installer wizard to the end.
4. Start (or restart) Word — the Markdown group with the "Insert Markdown" and "Copy as Markdown" buttons will appear on the Home tab.

If Word was open during installation, the wizard will ask you to close all Word windows and try again — this is needed to update the add-in file while Word isn't holding it open.

Updating to a new version

Just download the newer MD-Word-Setup-<version>.exe and run it — there's no need to uninstall the old version first. The installer replaces the files in place and updates the registration itself.

Uninstalling

Through Windows: Settings → Apps → Installed apps (or the classic "Programs and Features" in Control Panel) → find "MD-Word" → Uninstall. All registry keys and add-in files (along with the log and temp folder) will be removed completely.

If there's no entry in the apps list, run the uninstaller directly:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\MD-Word\unins000.exe

SmartScreen warning

The installer is not signed with a code-signing certificate (a deliberate decision at this stage), so Windows SmartScreen may show a warning like "Windows protected your PC".

To proceed with installation:

1. Click "More info".
2. Click "Run anyway".

This is expected behavior for unsigned installers and doesn't mean the file is malicious — it just doesn't have a SmartScreen reputation yet.

Troubleshooting

If the add-in doesn't show up in Word, or clicking a button doesn't do anything, check the log file:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\MD-Word\mdword.log

The file contains a date/time and description of every error or warning, including the full exception stack — useful to include if you're reporting an issue.

Known limitations

• Code spans with LaTeX delimiters (e.g. `\(x\)` in text) may be rewritten as `$x$` — the formula preprocessor doesn't yet recognize inline code span boundaries. A rare case (documentation about LaTeX markup itself); regular code blocks and code spans without LaTeX delimiters are unaffected.

Minimum requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11.
• Microsoft Word 2016 or newer (both 32-bit and 64-bit Word builds are supported).
• .NET Framework 4.8 (included with Windows 10/11 — no separate install needed).

For developers

tools/ contains scripts to register the add-in locally and run the e2e test without the installer. The installer itself is built with installer/build-installer.ps1 (requires Inno Setup 6: winget install -e --id JRSoftware.InnoSetup). Third-party licenses and shipped versions are listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.

License

MIT. Third-party components are listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.