So close. I have always hoped for an edit in markdown (or limited formatting) mode.
Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs
31–40 of 140 posts
Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs
#32No support for code blocks still: ```java String x = "xxx"; ``` No quoting: The docs for `libfloof` state: > The floof is 4 bytes long, at most. And when I type `code` with backticks at the start of a line, the word 'code' is formatted as code as expected, but auto-correct automatically capitalises it to 'Code' — which should never be done with code fragments. So this is basically just headings, italics, bold, and li…
To add a code block, type @ and scroll down to "Code Block ". It's still very limited, with syntax highlighting limited to C/C++, Java, JavaSript, Python.
Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs
#33I guess most users of Google Docs have no use for this, especially the download as markdown. I wonder why they decided to add this feature for the tech crowd so late in the lifecycle of the product, feels almost like an Summer '24 intern project?
Agreed; given the timing, an intern project seems plausible. (It feels a bit more ambitious than a typical intern project though, and I'm not sure how many of those end up quite so user-facing.)
I can imagine one internal use case.
At Google, we use Google Docs heavily for design docs. After the system has been built, it's not uncommon to link to the design doc as supplementary reading material. But the design doc isn't intended to co-evolve with the system; at some point, we migrate the design details to our internal documentation pages (g3doc [0]), which serves version-controlled markdown files and often has a much lower barrier to entry.
Even though Google Docs is ostensibly collaborative, design docs are often used as a snapshot of an individual's engineering maturity as justification during performance evaluation and promotion, and so it's not typical for them to be updated substantially, years after the initial implementation is complete.
[0] We write about it briefly in a case study about "The Google Wiki" at https://abseil.io/resources/swe-book/html/ch10.html
Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs
#34For Google Docs like real time collab on native markdown, I like and use daily: * https://hackmd.io and * https://stash.new
I used Hackmd in the past to share the draft of my book (1) and liked that people don't need to have an account to comment. Google Docs was no option as no markdown support and account required. The process worked well but I found Hackmd too expensive for just getting feedback. Stash looks promising for this use case.
(1) Written fully in Markdown in Obsidian at this point. I moved to Asciidoc since because of formatting. The early draft is still available on Hackmd though. Details in my bio.
Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs
#35Moved to self hosted bookstack recently due to this feature missing
Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs
#36No support for code blocks still: ```java String x = "xxx"; ``` No quoting: The docs for `libfloof` state: > The floof is 4 bytes long, at most. And when I type `code` with backticks at the start of a line, the word 'code' is formatted as code as expected, but auto-correct automatically capitalises it to 'Code' — which should never be done with code fragments. So this is basically just headings, italics, bold, and li…
Worked for me by typing ```
It opens a block and you can select Java. (There's only a relatively small number of syntaxes supported, but still.)
Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs
#37I like to have AI auto-complete assistance from something like GitHub copilot, so I often compose markdown within PyCharm and then paste to Google docs. There seem to be zillions of “AI-writing” tools out there but I’m shocked that nothing has replaced the smooth functionality of GitHub copilot. Google docs with Gemini is not smooth at all. Tried obsidian plugins but they are janky.
Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not a markdown doc + git with each colleague using their own text editor/IDE of choice?
Because not everyone is interested in setting up a Pandoc/Latex toolchain. Overleaf almost solved this problem but they don't support Pandoc as a frontend and want money unless you self-host.
You don't need pandoc and even less a latex(WTF does it have to do with md???) toolchain to work with markdown documents.
Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs
#39Hey folks, I'm the engineer who implemented the new feature. Just clearing up some confusion.
A lot of you are noticing the preexisting automatic detection feature from 2022 [1], which I also worked on. That's NOT what this newly announced feature is. The new feature supports full import/export, but it's still rolling out so you're likely not seeing it yet!
Hope you like it once it reaches you :)
[1] https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2022/03/compose-with...
Re: Import and Export Markdown in Google Docs
#40I thought copy as MD existed years ago and then went to look for it recently and it was gone. Now it's back. Am I losing it?
Maybe you've been using the GD2md-html plugin. I've certainly found it useful over the years, and will likely still use it for some of my workflows. https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/docs_to_markdow...
I don't think so... It was part of the download menu for me