aliases:
- How to/Read and edit modes
- Editing and formatting/Editing and previewing Markdown
permalink: edit-and-readEdit and preview Markdown
Obsidian lets you customize how to edit and preview notes with Markdown syntax using editor views and editor modes.
Markdown is a markup language that uses special syntax to format text that's mainly useful when editing your notes. Less so when reading them. Instead, Obsidian can show them in a way that's more suitable for reading.
Editor views and modes lets you customize how Markdown syntax appears when you're editing and reading notes.
Editor views
You can switch between the editing view and reading view, depending on whether you intend to make changes to the note.
To switch between views, select the view switcher ( 
or 
) in the upper-right corner of the editor, or press Ctrl+E (or Cmd+E on macOS) in the editor.
You need to enable Settings → Appearance → Show tab title bar to see the icon for switching views.
You can change the default editor view under Settings → Editor → Default view for new tabs.
To open a note in both editing and reading view side-by-side, press Ctrl (or Cmd on macOS) and select the view switcher ( or ) in the upper-right corner of the editor.
Editor modes
In Editing view, you can edit your notes using one of two modes, Live Preview or Source mode.
You can change the default editor mode under Settings → Editor → Default editing mode.
Live Preview
Live Preview is a smart editor mode that previews Markdown-formatted text while you're editing.
You can reveal the syntax for any Markdown-formatted text by moving the text cursor to it.
Since Live Preview lets you see the formatting in the editing view, it often removes the need to switch between editor views.
Source mode
Source mode displays the Markdown syntax for the entire note.
Use Source mode if you prefer to see the plain text representation of the note.