Markdown Squarespace Guide: Using the Markdown Block

The markdown Squarespace offers lives in one place: the Markdown block, which you add from the block menu like any text block. It renders headings, lists, links, emphasis, blockquotes, code, images, and inline HTML spans, but not tables or footnotes. This guide covers when to pick it over a Text or Code block, what renders, a working Custom CSS recipe, and a troubleshooting checklist.

What Are Markdown Blocks in Squarespace?

A Markdown block is a content block that takes plain Markdown syntax and renders it as formatted HTML on the published page. Squarespace's Markdown blocks help page lists the flow: open the Pages panel, click Edit on the page, choose Add block, then Markdown, and type into the field. On version 7.0 you click Apply and then Save; on 7.1 you just Save.

The block has a small toolbar for bold, italic, links, headings, quotes, and lists, but it inserts syntax rather than styling text. There's no side-by-side preview inside the editor, which is the main reason people draft in an external editor first. We prefer writing the block in the editor and pasting the source in once it looks right.

You can also make Markdown the default text editor for new pages and posts. In the Developer tools panel, click Default Text Editor, tick Markdown Editor, and save. Every new block then opens as a Markdown block instead of a Text block.

Markdown Block vs Text Block vs Code Block

This is the decision nobody spells out. All three blocks put text on the page; they differ in what you type and what Squarespace does with it.

You need	Use	Why
Normal paragraphs with the visual toolbar	Text block	WYSIWYG, live styling, no syntax to learn
Long formatted content pasted from a Markdown file	Markdown block	Keeps headings, lists, and links without re-formatting by hand
Superscript, subscript, or an inline coloured word	Markdown block	The cheat sheet shows <sup>, <sub>, and <span style> rendering
A table	Code block (HTML)	Squarespace's tables page says to build the table in HTML and use a code block
Custom HTML, CSS, or JavaScript	Code block	The Markdown block FAQ says custom code isn't supported there
Showing code as an example	Code block with Display Source	Formats the snippet instead of running it

The honest summary: the Markdown block wins when your content already exists as Markdown or needs a formatting trick the Text block can't do. For anything structural, Squarespace's own docs point you to a Code block, which on all plans accepts HTML, Markdown, and CSS, with JavaScript reserved for higher tiers. Our Markdown vs HTML comparison explains the general trade-off behind that split.

What Squarespace Markdown Renders (and What It Doesn't)

Squarespace publishes a Markdown cheat sheet for the block. The Markdown Squarespace renders is classic Gruber-style Markdown, not GitHub Flavored Markdown, and the support FAQ states that MultiMarkdown is not available in Markdown blocks. Here's what the cheat sheet documents, based on that page's own rendered examples.

Feature	Syntax	Renders in a Markdown block?
Bold, italic	**bold**, *italic*	Yes
Headings	# H1 to ###### H6	Yes
Links	[text](url "Title") and reference style	Yes
Images		Yes, with a hosted image URL
Lists	1., *, -, nested by four spaces	Yes
Blockquotes	> quote	Yes
Inline code	`code`	Yes
Code blocks	Indent four spaces	Yes (indented style only is documented)
Horizontal rule	--- or ***	Yes
Line break	Two trailing spaces	Yes
Superscript, subscript	E=MC<sup>2</sup>, CO<sub>2</sub>	Yes
Inline colour or font	<span style="color:red">word</span>	Yes, per the cheat sheet
Pipe tables	| a | b |	Not documented; use HTML in a Code block
Footnotes	[^1]	No (MultiMarkdown feature)
Fenced code blocks	Triple backticks	Not documented; indent instead
Task lists, strikethrough	- [ ], ~~text~~	Not documented (GFM features)

Two rows deserve attention. The cheat sheet's colour example is literally a <span style="color:red"> inside Markdown text, so inline HTML does render, even though the block FAQ says to use Code blocks for custom code. Read that as: small inline tags work, but Squarespace won't support you if they break.

Tables are the other one. The cheat sheet never mentions pipe syntax, and the Adding tables help page says there isn't a direct way to create tables, recommending HTML in a Code block. Our Markdown cheat sheet covers the full GFM syntax if you want to see what you're giving up.

How Do You Style a Markdown Block with Custom CSS?

The related searches for this topic are all about fonts and colours. The answer is a two-part recipe: a class hook in the block, and a rule in Custom CSS. The CSS editor is available on every Squarespace plan according to the custom code help page, which also warns to limit CSS to fonts, colours, and backgrounds.

Inside the Markdown block, wrap the text you want to style in a span with a class.

## Opening hours

<span class="hours-note">Closed on public holidays.</span>

- Monday to Friday: 9 to 5
- Saturday: 10 to 2

Then in the Custom CSS panel, target that class. Scoping the selector to the .markdown-block wrapper that Squarespace puts around each block keeps the rule from leaking into Text blocks.

.markdown-block .hours-note {
  color: #b02a37;
  font-family: Georgia, serif;
  font-size: 1.1em;
}

.markdown-block h2 {
  letter-spacing: 0.02em;
}

The second rule restyles every H2 inside every Markdown block on the site, which is handy for giving Markdown content a consistent look. If you only want one page affected, prefix the selector with that page's collection- body class, which you can read with the browser inspector.

One limitation: inline style attributes, like the cheat sheet's red cardinals example, override Custom CSS because inline styles win in the cascade. If you use both, expect the inline colour to stick. Our Markdown text colour guide covers the general span technique and where else it works.

Convert a Table for Squarespace in the Editor

Since the Markdown block won't take a pipe table, the workflow has three steps. Write the table in Markdown here, convert it to HTML, and paste the HTML into a Code block set to HTML. Edit the table below, click convert, and copy the output.

The same round trip works for anything else the Markdown Squarespace block doesn't render: a task list becomes a plain list, and a fenced code block becomes an indented one. Converting first also gives you the live preview the Markdown block lacks, so mistakes show up before you publish.

Troubleshooting Squarespace Markdown That Stops Rendering

The forum's "Markdown code not working" threads mostly trace back to five causes. Check them in order.

1. A missing blank line. Markdown needs an empty line before a list, heading, or blockquote that follows a paragraph. Without it, the syntax prints as literal text.
2. A code block that is really an indented paragraph. Four leading spaces start a code block in this flavour. Nested list items also use four spaces, so a stray indent turns your bullet into monospace text.
3. Fenced code or pipe tables. Neither appears in Squarespace's cheat sheet. Replace fences with four-space indents and tables with a Code block.
4. The cursor doesn't match the text. This is a known editor quirk; the help page's fix is to click into the field and press Enter, which realigns it.
5. The block was saved on 7.0 without Apply. On version 7.0 you need to click Apply inside the block editor and then Save the page, or the edit is discarded.

If everything looks right in the block editor but wrong on the live site, paste the source into our editor to check whether the Markdown Squarespace choked on is standard. When it renders correctly here and not in Squarespace, the feature is one the block doesn't support, and a Code block is the way out. Anchor links are a common example: our Markdown links guide shows the <a name> pattern that survives inside a Markdown block.

Common Markdown Squarespace Mistakes

Expecting GitHub features. Fenced code, task lists, strikethrough, and pipe tables come from GFM. Squarespace documents the original Markdown set plus a few HTML tags, so those four either print literally or vanish.

Editing without a preview. The block shows syntax, not the result, and the page editor's preview refreshes only after you save. Draft externally and paste the final version to avoid five save-and-check cycles.

Putting scripts in a Markdown block. JavaScript belongs in a Code block, and only on the plans that allow it. The Markdown block FAQ is explicit that custom code isn't supported there, so a non-working embed is expected behaviour, not a bug.

Markdown Squarespace FAQ

The markdown Squarespace supports is the original flavour plus a few inline HTML tags, delivered through a block with no live preview. Use it for pasted Markdown content and small formatting tricks, and switch to a Code block for tables and scripts. Reach for Custom CSS when the default fonts and colours don't fit. Draft each block in the editor first so you see the rendered result before Squarespace does.