Getting Started

Everything you need to know to start writing and exporting beautiful PDFs with Papersmith.

Overview#

Papersmith is a browser-based Markdown editor that converts your writing to beautifully formatted, fully text-selectable PDFs — no LaTeX, no setup, no local tools required. Write standard Markdown in the editor, see a live preview update as you type, and export to PDF in one click.

It supports GitHub Flavored Markdown for all users, plus KaTeX math rendering (inline and display mode) and Mermaid diagrams for Pro subscribers — all rendered faithfully in the exported PDF.

Quick Start#

Get from a blank page to an exported PDF in under two minutes:

Open the editor at papersmith.app/app. The left panel is your Markdown editor — start typing immediately.
Watch the live preview update on the right as you type. The preview mirrors the PDF output exactly, including math and diagrams.
Customize appearance using the toolbar at the top — choose a page size, theme, font size, and line spacing.
Export your PDF by clicking Download PDF (or pressing Ctrl+Shift+D). The PDF is generated with full text selectability.

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Tip: Papersmith auto-saves your document to the browser — your content is restored on your next visit, no account required. Pro users also get cloud saving: documents sync to your account and are accessible from any device via Ctrl+S.

The Interface#

The Papersmith editor is divided into four areas: the toolbar across the top, the editor panel on the left, the preview panel on the right, and an optional document sidebar (toggle with the Docs button in the toolbar) for saving and managing cloud documents.

⌨️ Editor Panel

A full-featured text editor with keyboard shortcuts, a floating formatting toolbar on text selection, slash commands, find & replace, and focus mode.

👁️ Preview Panel

Live-rendered preview that mirrors the PDF output. Updates on every keystroke. Math (KaTeX) and Mermaid diagrams render in real time for Pro subscribers.

🛠️ Toolbar

Controls for page size (A4, Letter, Legal), PDF theme, font size, line spacing, line numbers, focus mode, dark mode, and the Download PDF button.

📐 Resizable Split

Drag the divider between editor and preview to resize them. You can collapse either panel for a distraction-free writing or reading experience.

Keyboard Shortcuts#

All keyboard shortcuts work while the editor panel is focused.

Formatting#

Ctrl+B

Wrap selection in **bold**

Ctrl+I

Wrap selection in *italic*

Ctrl+`

Wrap selection in `inline code`

Ctrl+K

Wrap selection in a [link](url)

Actions#

Ctrl+S

Save document to cloud (Pro)

Ctrl+Shift+D

Download PDF

Ctrl+F

Open find & replace widget

Tab

Indent selected lines

Shift+Tab

Unindent selected lines

Escape

Close menus / exit focus mode

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Note: On macOS, Ctrl maps to ⌘ Cmd for all shortcuts.

Slash Commands#

Type / at the start of a line — or after a space — to open the command palette. Start typing to filter, use ↑ / ↓ to navigate, and press Enter to insert. Press Escape to dismiss without inserting.

Command	What it inserts / does
/heading1 (or /h1)	`#` — Heading 1
/heading2 (or /h2)	`##` — Heading 2
/heading3 (or /h3)	`###` — Heading 3
/bold	`bold text` — Bold text
/italic	`italic text` — Italic text
/code	`inline code` — Inline code
/codeblock (or /cb)	``` ``` — Fenced code block
/quote	`>` — Blockquote
/divider (or /hr)	`---` — Horizontal rule
/table	`\| Col 1 \| Col 2 \| Col 3 \|…` — 3-column Markdown table
/bullet (or /ul)	`-` — Bullet list item
/numbered (or /ol)	`1.` — Numbered list item
/task (or /todo)	`- [ ]` — Task list item
/link	`[text](url)` — Inline hyperlink
/pagebreak	`<!-- pagebreak -->` — Force a PDF page break at this position (Pro)

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Tip: You can filter commands by typing any part of their name after the slash. For example, /cb immediately filters to Code Block.

When you select text in the editor, a floating toolbar appears above the selection with quick-access buttons for common formatting operations.

B BoldI ItalicS Strikethrough` ` Inline Code🔗 Link

Each button wraps the selected text in the corresponding Markdown syntax — identical to using the keyboard shortcut. The toolbar dismisses automatically when you click elsewhere or deselect the text.

Strikethrough (~~text~~) is only available through the floating toolbar; there is no keyboard shortcut for it.

Find & Replace#

Press Ctrl+F to open the find & replace widget at the top of the editor panel. Press Escape to close it.

Search modes#

Aa

Match Case — search is case-sensitive when enabled

[W]

Whole Word — match complete words only, not substrings

.*

Regex — treat the search term as a regular expression

Click the › toggle on the left side of the find widget to expand the replace row. Enter replacement text, then use:

Replace — replaces the current match and advances to the next.
Replace All — replaces every match in the document at once.

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Note: Find & replace operates on the raw Markdown source, not the rendered output. Searching for bold won't match **bold** unless you search for the literal word inside the asterisks. Use Regex mode for pattern-based searches across Markdown syntax.

Example: regex replace#

To convert all level-2 headings (##) to level-3 (###), enable Regex mode and use:

Find:    ^## (.+)
Replace: ### $1

Markdown Reference →