TranMD
wjy23353 downloadsCopy notes or a selection as clean, portable Markdown by stripping wikilinks, embeds, callouts, frontmatter, comments, tags, highlights and footnotes. Ready for MarginNote 4 or any Markdown app.
- Overview
- Scorecard
- Updates3
Copy note content as clean, standard Markdown — stripping Obsidian-specific syntax so it renders correctly in MarginNote 4 and any other Markdown app.
Why TranMD?
Obsidian has many features that are not part of standard Markdown. When you copy a note into MarginNote 4 (or a plain Markdown editor), syntax such as [[wikilinks]], ![[embeds]], > [!note] callouts, YAML frontmatter, %%comments%%, inline #tags, ==highlight==, ~~strikethrough~~, footnotes and block references either does not render or leaks content that was meant to stay hidden. TranMD converts a note — or just the selected text — into clean, portable Markdown and copies it to your clipboard.
Features
- Copy the current selection, or the whole note when nothing is selected
- Works in both editing and reading mode
- Desktop and mobile (iOS / iPadOS) support
- Code blocks, inline code and
$$math$$blocks are protected from conversion - Available from the command palette, the ribbon, the editor context menu and the file explorer context menu
Conversion rules
| Obsidian syntax | TranMD output |
|---|---|
[[note|alias]], [[note]] |
alias, note (plain text) |
[[note#heading]] |
heading |
![[image.png|300]] |
image.png |
> [!note] Title |
> Title (kept as a blockquote) |
| YAML frontmatter | removed |
%%comment%% |
removed |
inline #tag |
tag (hash removed) |
^blockid |
removed |
==highlight== |
<mark>highlight</mark> |
~~strikethrough~~ |
strikethrough (MN4 has no strikethrough) |
[^1] footnotes |
reference removed, definition becomes - footnote: ... |
fenced code / inline code / $$math$$ |
left untouched |
Installation
Community plugins
Search for TranMD in Settings → Community plugins → Browse.
Manual
- Download
manifest.jsonandmain.jsfrom the latest release. - Create the folder
<vault>/.obsidian/plugins/tranmd/. - Put both files inside it.
- Enable TranMD in Settings → Community plugins.
Usage
- Command palette (
Ctrl/Cmd+P):- Copy selection as MarginNote Markdown — copies the selection, or the whole note if nothing is selected
- Copy note as MarginNote Markdown — copies the whole note
- Ribbon: the clipboard icon copies the whole note
- Editor context menu: right-click a selection → Copy as MarginNote Markdown
- File explorer: right-click a
.mdfile → Copy as MarginNote Markdown
Then paste into MarginNote 4 and turn on the Markdown toggle in the card's text field.
Mobile (iOS / iPadOS)
The plugin is not desktop-only and includes a native clipboard path, so it also works on Obsidian mobile:
- Select text → open the selection /
⋮menu → Copy as MarginNote Markdown - Or add the command to the mobile toolbar: Settings → Mobile → Manage toolbar options
- Or run it from the command palette
Known limitations
- Inline
$...$math is not individually protected ($$...$$blocks are). A==or~~inside inline math could be converted. - Standard Markdown links to local
.mdfiles are kept as-is; they will not navigate inside MarginNote. - Nested callouts keep their indentation; only the type marker is removed.
Development
npm install
npm run build # bundle src/ into main.js
npm test # run the conversion tests
npm run dev # watch build