Google adds support for Markdown files in Google Docs and Drive

Markdown is one of the best ways to write because it’s simple, straightforward, and relies entirely on the keyboard. This makes it easier to create well-formatted documents quickly without digging through thousands of menus. On the other hand, Google Docs is great for creating, editing, and viewing documents. Naturally, bringing the two together makes sense, and it seems Google has finally realized that.

The company announced today that it’s introducing support for viewing, editing, and collaborating on Markdown files directly in Google Docs. If you’ve created a document in a Markdown editor like Obsidian, you can now import it into Docs and share it with your team. Docs will render the document with all Markdown formatting preserved, and collaborators can make edits without first converting the Markdown file into a Doc format.

Google also highlighted that since Markdown is usually preferred by large language models (LLMs), Markdown support will benefit users who rely on Gemini (or other agentic AI assistants) in Docs for drafting documents.

Additionally, Google Drive can now display properly rendered Markdown files, complete with clickable links, headings, subheadings, and structured data such as tables.

Markdown support in Google Docs and Drive is rolling out to all users with a Google Workspace or personal account. However, the company noted that it’s a gradual rollout and could take up to 15 days to reach everyone, so you may not see it right away.