A document on the page. Markdown on disk.
Markdown is a small agreement: a heading starts with a hash, emphasis uses a few marks, and a document remains readable as text. Beauty gives those marks a visual form while you write. A heading looks like a heading. A checked task looks finished. The file underneath remains Markdown.
On Mac, your library lives in a plain folder. Notes are Markdown files, images travel with the library, and a readable catalog keeps the collection together. You can inspect your writing without opening Beauty, keep a backup of the folder, or open a note in another Markdown editor.
This is useful for the everyday work that accumulates slowly: meeting notes, draft essays, reading lists, technical explanations, and a page of things you do not want to forget.
Start writing in three small steps
- Download Beauty from the Mac App Store and open the app. The editor does not require a Beauty account.
- Start a note. Type a heading with
#followed by a space, or use the formatting controls if you would rather leave the syntax alone. - Give the note a title and keep writing. When you need another format, use the export controls to create Markdown, HTML, or PDF.
If a blank page is too open-ended, begin with the meeting notes template. It gives you space for a purpose, decisions, and actions without turning a document into a project management system.
Keep your hands near the words
Familiar shortcuts handle the frequent edits: Command-B for bold, Command-I for italic, and Command-K for a link. Markdown shorthand gives a line its structure as you type. Lists can nest; Tab and Shift-Tab adjust their indentation.
The less frequent details have a place too. Code fences preserve their language, formulas render in the page, and tables have controls for rows, columns, and alignment. You can change the typeface and reading width to suit the document you are working on.
For a closer look at the relationship between syntax and the rendered page, read about the visual Markdown editor.
Write offline. Choose when to connect.
Local writing does not need a connection. You can draft on a train or work away from Wi-Fi, then export when you are ready. A backup is still a good idea: local files protect you from needing a service to read them, but they do not protect a disk from being lost or damaged.
Beauty Maximus is an optional subscription for keeping a library current across Apple devices through your own iCloud account. The free editor and local files do not depend on that subscription. Live sharing is a separate feature: a shared session needs someone to keep the note open so others can join.
Finish in the format the reader needs
Keep Markdown when someone needs to edit the source. Choose HTML when you need a rendered document for a web workflow. Use PDF when the reader needs a page they can open and read without choosing an editor.
The Markdown to PDF guide walks through preparing the document and checking the result. You can also export the whole library as a zip, with images included, when you want to carry the collection together.
Your first note can be a single sentence. The structure can come later.