Using MarkdownFormatProvider

Updated on May 13, 2026

The MarkdownFormatProvider allows you to import and export RadFlowDocument instances to and from the Markdown (.md and .markdown) format. RadWordsProcessing includes a built-in Markdown parser and writer that supports the most common Markdown elements used in documentation and content authoring workflows.

To use the MarkdownFormatProvider, install the Telerik.Documents.Flow NuGet package for .NET Standard and .NET (Target OS: None) or Telerik.Windows.Documents.Flow for .NET Framework and .NET (Target OS: Windows).

Supported Document Elements

The MarkdownFormatProvider supports the following document elements during import and export:

Block-level Elements

Element	Notes
Headings (H1–H6)	ATX (# Heading) and Setext (=== / ---) styles configurable via ExportSettings.HeadingStyle
Paragraphs	Standard CommonMark paragraphs
Thematic break / horizontal rule	---, ***, ___
Fenced code blocks	With optional language info string; fence char configurable via ExportSettings.CodeFenceStyle
Indented code blocks	Four-space or tab-indented content
Block quotes	Nested block quotes supported up to 21 levels
Bullet lists	Tight and loose lists
Ordered lists	Both . and ) terminators
Task lists (GFM)	[ ] unchecked / [x] checked
GFM pipe tables	With column alignment; configurable via ExportSettings.TableExport (GfmPipe or Skip)
Raw HTML blocks	Preserved verbatim on round-trip
YAML frontmatter	Delimited by --- at document start; preserved verbatim

Inline Elements

Element	Notes
Plain text	text
Bold	**text**
Italic	*text*
Bold italic	***text***
Strikethrough (GFM)	~~text~~
Inline code span	Backtick delimited; also applied to Runs using monospace fonts (configurable via ExportSettings.MonospaceFontNames)
Hyperlinks	[text](url) inline links
Inline images	 configurable via ExportSettings.ImageExport (Inline or Skip)
Floating images	Exported as inline 
Hard line break	Two trailing spaces or \ at end of line

Markdown is a plain-text format. Document elements with no Markdown equivalent, such as fonts, colors, page size, margins, and headers and footers, are not preserved during export.

Import

To import a Markdown file, create a MarkdownFormatProvider instance and call its Import method with a Stream to the .md file.

Example 1: Import from a File

C#

Telerik.Windows.Documents.Flow.Model.RadFlowDocument document;
Telerik.Windows.Documents.Flow.FormatProviders.Md.MarkdownFormatProvider provider = new Telerik.Windows.Documents.Flow.FormatProviders.Md.MarkdownFormatProvider();

using (Stream input = File.OpenRead("input.md"))
{
    document = provider.Import(input, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
}

The provider parses the Markdown content and builds a RadFlowDocument with the corresponding paragraphs, headings, tables, and inline formatting. Inline elements such as bold, italic, code, and strikethrough are mapped to the equivalent character properties in the document model.

Export

To export a RadFlowDocument to Markdown, create a MarkdownFormatProvider instance and call Export, passing the document and an output stream.

Example 2: Export to a File

C#

Telerik.Windows.Documents.Flow.FormatProviders.Md.MarkdownFormatProvider provider = new Telerik.Windows.Documents.Flow.FormatProviders.Md.MarkdownFormatProvider();
RadFlowDocument document = CreateRadFlowDocument(); // CreateRadFlowDocument() is a custom method that creates a simple instance of RadFlowDocument. You can replace it with the instance you would like to export.

using (Stream output = File.OpenWrite("output.md"))
{
    provider.Export(document, output, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
}

The exporter traverses the document structure and writes the equivalent Markdown constructs. Heading styles are mapped to ATX-style heading markers (#–######), tables are rendered as GitHub-Flavored Markdown pipe tables, and lists are written with the appropriate indentation.

See Also

• Settings