How can I use raw LaTeX (or other code) with MultiMarkdown?

Anything placed in an HTML comment will be passed along unaltered - this can include raw LaTeX code. For example:

This is raw LaTeX: <!-- e^{i \cdot \pi} = -1 -->

will generate:

This is raw LaTeX: e^{i \cdot \pi} = -1 

This is still a “beta” feature and is not perfect. Please let me know when you have trouble.

My LaTeX won’t compile — what’s wrong?

First - the vast majority of the time, this is not really a MMD problem, but rather a LaTeX problem, or (honestly) user error. Very occasionally, there are instances where MMD produces invalid LaTeX output when given unusual input, but these are rare.

First, if you are having problems with a more “complicated” MMD tool (such as the TextMate bundle, or the Drag and Drop versions), use the command line approach when you are really having difficulties. See if your document will compile to XHTML using the MultiMarkdown.pl utility. Once you’ve got that working, try moving on to LaTeX, and then a PDF (if that’s your goal).

If that doesn’t work, you need to track down the source of the error. The best approach is similar to the old program Conflict Catcher. Keep dividing your document into halves, and test each half. One half will likely compile without complaint, and the other won’t. Take the problem half, and repeat this process until you are able to find the paragraph, sentence, word that causes the error.

Using a real text editor (e.g. TextMate), examine the trouble sectiion and make sure to view the invisible characters, and look for something odd. If you can’t do that, you can also delete the faulty sentence and retype it (don’t copy and paste — you’ll simply replicate the problem).

If none of that fixes your problem, post the problem section to the MultiMarkdown Discussion List and you will likely find out what you’re doing wrong. Or perhaps you found an error and I will fix it. ;)

When I try to convert to XHTML, my document ends up in the metadata

You are using an automated tool to create “complete” content. The tool is adding the format: complete metadata for you, but you don’t have any other metadata in your document.

Start your document with a blank line to indicate that there is no more metadata.

Questions in Need of Answers

Please feel free to add questions to this list. Also, if you can answer (or partially answer) a question in this list, please move it above and start the answer. If this is a group effort, the answers will probably be more thorough than if I answer them all myself. Thanks!!

Submit your questions or solutions via comments or via email, and I will update this page.