Part 1 provided my reasons for “Replacing Word with MultiMarkdown” and in Part 2 I addressed the features supported and challenges that may exist in getting free of Word. In this final part, I am provides resource links for those that want to be brave and free themselves of Word. For those of you that want to see what MMD looks like, click HERE to see the source code of this post.

Lightweight Markup Languages

Markdown is a lightweight markup language, originally created by John Gruber with substantial contributions from Aaron Swartz, allowing people “to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid XHTML (or HTML)”.

• Introduction
• Basics
• Syntax

MultiMarkdown is a lightweight markup language created by Fletcher T. Penney and based on Markdown, which supports more export-formats and implements some added features currently not available with plain Markdown syntax.

• Introduction
• Features
• Syntax Guide

CriticMarkup is a way for authors and editors to track changes to documents in plain text. As with Markdown, small groups of distinctive characters allow you to highlight insertions, deletions, substitutions and comments, all without the overhead of heavy, proprietary office suites.

• Introduction
• User Guide
• Specification

Editors

OS X users

Byword is a MultiMarkdown text editors for iOS and OS X. On the Mac, a great selection of keyboard shortcuts and support for native full-screen mode make Byword an experience that’s both powerful and intuitive; on iPhones and iPads, the app’s excellent MultiMarkdown previews allow the Markdown-savvy writer to always keep an eye on the final outcome of a document. With sync (both through iCloud and Dropbox) and solid exporting options (including PDF), Byword has become many’s preferred solution to write down thoughts and longer essays – with a focus on Markdown, rich text, and cross-device availability of documents.

MultiMarkdown Composer is a very useful text editor designed to work around the MultiMarkdown Syntax. It is designed to make writing in MultiMarkdown even easier than it already is, with automatic syntax highlighting, built in previews, CriticMarkup support, easy export to any format that is supported by MultiMarkdown, and more!

Windows and Linux users

Sublime Text (ST) is the best MultiMarkdown Editor available for Windows and LinuX OS. There is however a price attached (US$70.00), ST may be downloaded and evaluated for free, however a license must be purchased for continued use. There is currently no enforced time limit for the evaluation. Current version of ST is 2, with version 3 available in beta.

Customizing Sublime Text

Markdownediting

Markdownediting is a plugin for Markdown and MultiMarkdown that adds a new theme to Sublime Text and improves certain editing features, besides adding some keyboard shortcuts.

Markdown Preview

Markdown Preview is a plugin that allows users to quickly obtain a preview of their markdown files in the web browser of their choice.

CriticMarkup Toolkit

The CriticMarkup Toolkit mention in the Tools section, has a ST package that brings all the functionality of MultiMarkdown Composer to Windows and Linux.

Preview Engine

Marked’s flexible MultiMarkdown preview will show you the final output of your document as you work, and its writing tools make your life easier from concept to publish. Marked will update a preview as you work (with several high-quality themes to choose from, or design your own), refreshing every time you save. It can even automatically scroll the preview to where you’re currently editing in your document.

Tools (OS X System Services)

The Markdown Service Tools are a collection of OS X Services designed to make writing Markdown text that much easier. Services work in any Cocoa-based application (which is most of the apps on your Mac). The Services are prefixed with “md” to keep them grouped in your Services menu. You can assign your own keyboard shortcuts (see the last section of this document) to make accessing them more convenient.

The CriticMarkup Toolkit contains two system services, Accept Critic Mark and Reject Critic Mark. Each service takes a highlighted snippet of text, removes the markup, and leaves behind the appropriate text.