---
title: "What is Markdrop"
description: "Markdrop turns documents and files into links that open rendered in any browser. Here is what it does and where to start."
canonical_url: https://docs.markdrop.in/get-started/what-is-markdrop
last_updated: 2026-10-30
site: "Markdrop Docs"
index: https://docs.markdrop.in/llms.txt
---

# What is Markdrop

Markdrop gives you a link that renders what you drop into it. Paste a Markdown write-up and people see a formatted page. Upload `deck.pdf`, a spreadsheet or a screen recording and people see the PDF, the grid or the video, in their browser, without downloading anything or installing an app.

Anything you would otherwise paste as raw text, or send as an attachment someone can't open on their phone, becomes one address like `markdrop.in/q3-plan`.

## Two kinds of things you can publish

### Documents

A document is text you write or paste: notes, specs, an AI assistant's answer, a README. Markdrop renders it with headings, tables, task lists, code highlighting, math and diagrams.

You don't need an account to publish a document. You get a link right away, plus an edit secret that lets you change or delete it later.

### Files

A file (the app also calls these *artifacts*) is something you upload: an HTML page, a PDF, an Excel or CSV sheet, a Word document, images, video, audio, or a whole website in a `.zip`. Each one opens in a viewer made for it: a PDF reader, a spreadsheet with tabs, a video player.

Files need a free account, because they're stored against it.

## What happens after you share a link

Readers open it in any browser. Nobody needs an account to read something you've shared with "Anyone with the link".

You stay in control of the link after you share it:

- **Edit it.** Change a document's text or swap the file behind a link. The address stays the same, and pages that are open update in place.
- **Decide who can open it.** Keep it open to anyone with the link, limit it to people you add by email, or to your team. See [Who can open what](https://docs.markdrop.in/sharing/who-can-open).
- **Lock it down further.** Add a password, set it to expire, or encrypt a document in your browser so Markdrop stores only ciphertext it has no key for.
- **See who reads it.** Signed in, you get views, read depth and, for video, how much people watched. See [Analytics](https://docs.markdrop.in/analytics/overview).

## When teams use it

A workspace gives a team shared folders, roles and its own domain, so a link reads `docs.acme.com/guides/setup` instead of `markdrop.in/…`, with your logo on it. See [Create a workspace](https://docs.markdrop.in/workspaces/create).

You can also publish from where you already work: the [CLI](https://docs.markdrop.in/cli/install), the [VS Code extension](https://docs.markdrop.in/vscode/sync), and AI assistants like Claude through [MCP](https://docs.markdrop.in/ai/overview).

## Start here

**[Publish your first document](https://docs.markdrop.in/get-started/first-document)**

Paste some Markdown and get a link in under a minute. No account needed.

**[Publish your first file](https://docs.markdrop.in/get-started/first-file)**

Upload a PDF, page, sheet or video and get a link that opens it.

**[Do you need an account?](https://docs.markdrop.in/get-started/accounts)**

What works without signing in, and what an account adds.

**[A tour of the app](https://docs.markdrop.in/get-started/tour)**

Where your files, shared items, analytics and settings live.