A more familiar editing environment

Markdown documents can be edited either in source mode (what we’re looking at right now) or in visual mode. To switch between these modes, click on the button at the top right of the toolbar on the Source panel in RStudio (when viewing a .Rmd file), or use the shortcut [Command/Control]+Shift+F4.

Toolbar above the editing pane in RStudio.

The tool you want is the one on the far-right in the picture above.

NOTE The visual editor with reformat your source code using Pandoc’s default markdown writer, so it may look slightly different when you toggle back to source view.

For many, the VME will feel much more familiar and use-friendly the the ‘traditional’ Markdown source editing. Highlights of this new feature include:

• Real-time spell-checking and outline navigation.
• Tight integration with source editing (editing location and undo/redo state are preserved when switching between modes).
  
• Keyboard support. In addition to traditional shortcuts, you can use markdown expressions (e.g. ##, bold, etc.) for formatting. If you don’t remember all of the keyboard shortcuts, you can also use the catch-all ⌘ / shortcut to insert anything.
  
• Extensive support for citations, including integration with Zotero and the ability to insert citations from DOIs or searches of PubMed, Crossref, and DataCite.
  
• Scientific and technical writing features, including cross-references, footnotes, equations, code execution, and embedded LaTeX.

NOTE If you opt to use the Visual Markdown Editor for assignments, be sure that all required code chunks are visible in your knitted document.