How do I export Markdown to PDF on a Mac?
To turn Markdown into a readable PDF, open it in a renderer with PDF export or printing support. Read the preview, export the document, and inspect the actual PDF. A page that looks correct on screen can still have clipped tables, missing local images or different page breaks in its export. For a quick text-only PDF of one file, the free Markdown to PDF tool works in your browser without uploading the document.
The rendering reference provides a synthetic document with tables, code, a diagram, math, an image and a companion link. Use it to check your export workflow without exposing private files.
Keep local assets beside the source
Unzip the complete folder. Open its README.md from that location so the assets/reading-path.svg path resolves. If an image is missing in the reader, exporting will not reliably restore it.
Check the Mermaid block and formulas in a compatible renderer. The browser reader on this site keeps those as source, so its print output is not a substitute for an export from a renderer with diagram and math support.
Export from Aero Markdown
The Mac reader includes File → Export as PDF. Open the document, wait for its rendered content, then choose that command and save to a location you control. File → Print is a separate route through macOS printing.
These instructions describe the reader's export command; the Mac app is still in development. No sample PDF here is being presented as a tested export from a public release. For another installed Markdown application, use its documented export command and run the same checks below.
A practical export checklist
- Headings are readable and in the expected order.
- Table columns and long values remain visible.
- Code has not lost indentation or been cut off.
- Diagrams and math appear as rendered content when that is required.
- Local images appear with useful size and contrast.
- The text is selectable where the recipient needs to copy or search it.
- Page boundaries do not hide a conclusion or make a table unusable.
Record what you actually checked. A successful file save does not prove each content type survived.
Links to other files need a delivery decision
A PDF of README.md is not automatically a bundle of every linked .md file. A colleague may see a link to a local path they do not have. Decide whether the handoff should be a single self-contained PDF, several exports, or a folder with source documents and assets.
For the source-folder approach, start with the Project Reading Kit. For the distinction between source and reading view, see reader versus editor.