Present a Markdown note as slides on a Mac

Checked November 2026 against the CommonMark spec on thematic breaks.

Sometimes the notes are the talk. You've written the plan for Monday's meeting, the steps of a workshop or the summary of a project, and building a deck from it means copying everything into another app and keeping two versions in step.

In Coffee you can present the note itself. Here's how to write a note that works as slides, and two other ways to show a note to someone: a mind map of it, and one picture of the whole thing.

Slides from a note

A line with only --- on it is a thematic break in Markdown, drawn as a divider. Coffee's Present as Slides uses those lines as the edges of slides:

# Q4 plan

Three things, and one we're dropping.

---

## Ship the new onboarding

- Two weeks of testing
- Live by 20 October

---

## Hire a second designer

$$
\text{budget} = 12 \times 4500
$$

That's three slides. Choose Present as Slides from the View menu, or press <kbd>⌥⌘P</kbd>, and the note fills the screen, one slide at a time.

• Space or the arrow keys move between slides.
• Esc ends the presentation.
• Formulas, diagrams and pictures come along. A $$ block is drawn as a formula, a Mermaid flowchart as a diagram, and an image as the picture, the same as in the note.

The note stays an ordinary Markdown file. The --- lines are plain Markdown, so in any other app they're just dividers between sections.

Writing notes that present well

1. One idea per slide. If a section needs scrolling in the note, it'll be crowded on the screen. Split it with another ---.
2. A heading on each slide. It tells the room where you are, and it gives the note a useful outline when you're writing it.
3. Short lists over paragraphs. Keep the paragraphs for what you'll say.
4. Draw it if it's a process. A small Mermaid flowchart is often clearer than five bullets, and it's drawn on the slide.
5. Rehearse in the note. Since the slides are the note, fixing a typo while you practise fixes the talk.

A mind map of the note

Note > Mind Map… shows the note's headings and list items as a tree of branches. It's a quick way to see the shape of a long document: which sections are heavy, which are thin, and where a list has grown too deep.

Click a branch and Coffee goes to that line in the note, so the map works as a way around it as well as a picture of it.

The whole note as one picture

Export > Image saves the whole note as one tall PNG picture. It's handy when the person you're sending it to won't open a Markdown file: a chat message, a support ticket, or a post where only images go. For something to print or file, a PDF is still the better choice.

Keeping a note in view

Window > Float on Top keeps a note above your other apps. On a video call, that keeps your talking points beside the meeting window, or keeps a checklist in view while you work through it in another app.

Questions

How do I split a Markdown note into slides?

Put a line with only --- on it between slides. In Coffee, View > Present as Slides, or <kbd>⌥⌘P</kbd>, shows the note full screen with a slide for each part.

Do formulas and diagrams show in the slides?

Yes. Maths, Mermaid diagrams and pictures appear on the slides as they do in the note.

How do I move between slides and stop?

Space or the arrow keys move between slides, and Esc ends the presentation.

Can I see a note as a mind map?

Yes. Note > Mind Map… shows the note's headings and list items as branches, and clicking one goes to that line.

Can I save a whole note as an image?

Yes. Export > Image saves it as one tall PNG.

Coffee is Mac only, with macOS 15 or later. It's free for 14 days without a card, then €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once with two years of updates.