# Markdown documents and Skills

*Write, save, copy and download Markdown documents, such as Skills, on the Build screen.*

Online version: https://promptmason.ai/docs/markdown-documents

A Markdown document is text that PromptMason saves exactly as you write it, with no blocks and no variables. Markdown is a plain-text way of marking headings, lists and links with characters such as `#` and `-`. Use a document for anything you keep as a `.md` file, for example a Skill: a file of instructions an AI tool can follow.

A document is listed with your prompts on the **Prompts** screen, with **Markdown** as its kind.

## Turn on the Markdown editor

Documents are written with the Markdown editor, a feature you can show or hide.

1. Click **Settings** in the sidebar, then **Features**.
2. Turn on **Markdown editor**.

With it off, you can still read, copy and download the documents you have, but you can't write new ones or edit them.

## Write a new document

1. Click **Build** in the sidebar.
2. Click the **Markdown** tab above the middle pane. The tabs show when you're starting something new.
3. Type a name in the name box at the top.
4. Type or paste your Markdown in the large box. A new document starts on **Edit**.
5. Click **Preview** to see how it looks, and **Edit** to go back to writing.
6. Under **Properties** on the right, check the **Type**. A new document starts on **Skill**.
7. Optional: choose a **Location** (a folder), and add a **Description** and **Tags**.
8. Click **Save**.

PromptMason saves the document and opens the **Prompts** screen. To save and keep writing, click **Apply** instead.

If you switch to the **Canvas** tab with unsaved text, PromptMason asks **Discard your changes?** first. The name, description and tags carry over, and so does the Type if you chose one; otherwise the Type changes to that tab's starting Type. The text doesn't carry over.

## Writing in the Edit view

The **Edit** view is a plain text box. What you type is saved exactly, character for character. A few things to know:

- The Tab key moves to the next control instead of indenting. Type spaces to indent.
- Spelling isn't checked in this box.
- If AI assist is set up, its button shows here, in the **Edit** view only. See [Improve text with AI assist](https://promptmason.ai/docs/ai-assist).

![The Markdown tab on the Build screen with a short Skill document typed into the editor.](https://promptmason.ai/images/docs/markdown-documents-edit-view.webp)

The right-hand pane, headed **Document**, shows the number of lines, words and characters, and an estimate of tokens (a token is about three quarters of a word).

## What Preview shows

**Preview** shows the document as formatted Markdown: headings, lists, tables, quotes, code and links. Links open in your web browser, except links to PromptMason's guides, which open in **Help**. Front matter (the settings block some files start with, between two `---` lines) shows as a separate block at the top. Images aren't loaded; their description text shows in their place.

![The same document in Preview, with a front matter box, a heading and a numbered list.](https://promptmason.ai/images/docs/markdown-documents-preview.webp)

An empty document shows **Nothing to show yet. Switch to Edit and start writing.**

## What isn't processed

PromptMason never changes a document's text, whether you save it, copy it or download it:

- `{{name}}` stays as written. Variables aren't filled in, and the **Fill in your values** window never opens.
- `{{! … }}` stays as written. Hidden notes are only removed from blocks and prompts.
- A document has no character limit of its own.

A document can't be turned into a prompt, and a prompt can't be turned into a document. To use the text in a prompt, copy it and paste it into a block or a static prompt.

## Copy or download a document

On the Build screen, while the document is open:

- **Copy** puts the Markdown on the clipboard as plain text, exactly as written.
- **Download .md** saves it as a `.md` file named after the document. Choose where to save it.

On the **Prompts** screen, click the document in the list, then click **Copy to Clipboard** or **Download .md** at the bottom of the right-hand pane. You can also right-click the document in the list and click **Download .md**.

![The Prompts screen with a Markdown document selected and its Copy to Clipboard and Download .md buttons.](https://promptmason.ai/images/docs/markdown-documents-prompts-screen-download.webp)

## Edit a saved document

1. Click **Prompts** in the sidebar.
2. Click the document in the list.
3. Click the pencil (**Edit**) at the top of the right-hand pane.
4. The document opens on the Build screen, on **Preview**. Click **Edit** to change the text.
5. Click **Update** to save and go back to the Prompts screen, or **Apply** to save and keep working.

A saved document opens on its own, without the **Canvas** tab or the blocks list. To leave without saving, click **Cancel**.

Every save that changes the name, Type, text or tags adds a version. See [Version history](https://promptmason.ai/docs/version-history).

## Type, Kind and Skills

Each document has a kind and a Type:

- **Kind** is what the item is: **Static Prompt**, **Dynamic Prompt** or **Markdown**. You can't change it.
- **Type** is a label you choose under **Properties**, such as **User Prompt**, **System Prompt** or **Skill**. Any Type can go on any kind.

A new document starts with the Type **Skill**. In Chat, your documents whose Type is **Skill** are listed under **Your skills** in the **Skill** picker, so a chat can follow them. See [Run prompts in Chat](https://promptmason.ai/docs/chat-basics). To use a document as a skill in Chat, keep it under 20,000 characters. A longer one shows **This skill is too long for a chat: keep it under 20,000 characters.** Shorten it, or split it into two documents. To add your own Types, see [Block types, prompt types and defaults](https://promptmason.ai/docs/types-and-defaults).

## Documents and the Free plan

A document counts as a prompt. On the Free plan it's one of your 15 prompts. See [Plans and limits](https://promptmason.ai/docs/plans).

## Messages

| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| **Give this document a name to save it.** | Type a name in the name box at the top, then save again. |
| **Your library is paused** | While your library is paused you can read your documents, but not edit, copy or download them. See [When your library is paused](https://promptmason.ai/docs/paused-library). |

**Save** stays grayed out while the text box is empty. Type some Markdown first.

## Want a hand?

Paste this prompt into Claude, ChatGPT or another AI assistant, together with this guide, to be walked through it step by step:

> I want to keep a Claude Skill in PromptMason as a Markdown document. Walk me through turning on the “Markdown editor”, writing and saving the document, and downloading it as a .md file.