Analysis

This group inspects a Markdown document without changing it. The instructions read the document and produce a report or a number — a table of contents, a word or character count, a list of the links, images or headings, a plain-text version stripped of all Markdown symbols, a copy of the raw Markdown, or a check of whether the links are well-formed. Because they only read, they are typically used to save a result that a later instruction can reuse.

Prerequisite: the workflow must already have a Markdown document created (with Create Markdown) or opened. Every instruction here works on that open document.

These concepts recur across the instructions in this group; they are explained here once.

• Document: indicates which document in the workflow the instruction applies to. If left empty, the current document is used. If the document doesn’t exist (or is not a Markdown/text document), the instruction simply does nothing.

• These instructions read, they don’t change the document. They look at the Markdown and produce a report or a count; the document itself is left untouched.

• Saving a result: each instruction can save its result into a named value (its Save … field). If you leave that field empty, nothing is saved — and since these instructions only produce information, the Save … field is how you capture their output for later use (including in an @name or “from variable” field of a following instruction). Several instructions save more than one value (for example a list and a count).

• Reports are for reading; counters are for deciding. When an instruction saves both, the Save … text is a readable report meant to be shown or written into a document (for example 1. ## Introduction, or the sentence No links found. when there is nothing). It is not meant to be picked apart by a later instruction. The companion Save … count is the number, and that is what to use in an If condition or in a “from variable” field.

• All instructions read the document the same way. Headings, tables, footnotes, task lists, math, abbreviations and emoji shortcodes are understood by every instruction in this group, so the same document always yields the same counts and lists.

• There are no free-text fields in this group, so the @name trick (typing @ followed by a saved value’s name) does not apply here.

• Block number (Count Characters / Count Words): these two instructions can measure the whole document or a single block. Blocks are the pieces of text separated by blank lines, numbered starting at 1; 0 means the whole document. If the block number is past the end of the document, the count is saved as 0.

• “From variable” fields: the numeric Block number has a companion “from variable” field:

  • If you leave it empty, the number typed in the normal field is used.
  • If you fill it in with the name of a saved value, the engine ignores the normal field and reads the block number from that variable.

  This is mainly for chaining instructions. If you only work with fixed values, you can ignore it. (The yes/no field Include whitespace has no “from variable” companion.)

• Count Characters .md
• Count Words .md
• Get Markdown .md
• Get Plain Text .md
• Get Table Of Contents .md
• List All Images .md
• List All Links .md
• List Headings .md
• Validate Links .md

Count Characters .md

Counts the number of characters in the document, or in a single block, and saves the count.

When to use it: to check the length of the document (or of one block) against a limit, or to feed a character count into a later instruction.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Block number	Which block to measure; 0 = the whole document (blocks start at 1)	0	No
Include whitespace	Yes = also count spaces, tabs and line breaks; No = count only visible characters	Yes	No
Block number (from variable)	Reads the block number from a saved value	(empty)	No
Include whitespace (from variable)	Reads the yes/no value from a saved value	(empty)	No
Save count	Name under which the character count is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No

Important behavior: the text is first stripped of Markdown symbols, then its characters are counted. If Include whitespace is No, spaces and line breaks are not counted. If the block number is past the end of the document, 0 is saved.

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Count Words .md

Counts the number of words in the document, or in a single block, and saves the count.

When to use it: to check the document (or one block) against a word limit, or to feed a word count into a later instruction.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Block number	Which block to measure; 0 = the whole document (blocks start at 1)	0	No
Block number (from variable)	Reads the block number from a saved value	(empty)	No
Save count	Name under which the word count is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No

Important behavior: the text is first stripped of Markdown symbols, then split into words on spaces and line breaks. If the block number is past the end of the document, 0 is saved.

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Get Markdown .md

Saves a copy of the document’s raw Markdown source, exactly as it stands.

When to use it: to capture the whole document as text at a point in the workflow — for example to store it or pass it to another instruction.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Save markdown	Name under which the Markdown text is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No

Important behavior: returns the raw Markdown, including all symbols (#, *, links, etc.). Nothing in the document is changed.

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Get Plain Text .md

Converts the document to clean plain text, removing all Markdown symbols, and saves it.

When to use it: to get a readable, symbol-free version of the document — for example to reuse the text elsewhere without the #, * and link syntax.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Save plain text	Name under which the plain text is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No

Important behavior: headings, emphasis, links and other Markdown syntax are removed, leaving only the readable text. Emoji shortcodes and plain web addresses are recognized. Nothing in the document is changed.

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Get Table Of Contents .md

Builds a table of contents from all the headings in the document and saves it as a Markdown list.

When to use it: to generate a linked index of the document’s sections that you can insert at the top or store for reference.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Save TOC	Name under which the table of contents is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No

Important behavior: each heading becomes an indented list item linking to that heading (nested by heading level). If the document has no headings, No headings found. is produced instead.

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List All Images .md

Lists every image referenced in the document, and saves both the list and the image count.

When to use it: to review the images used, or to check how many there are.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Save images	Name under which the list of images is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No
Save image count	Name under which the number of images is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No

Important behavior: each entry shows the image’s alt text and its URL. If there are no images, No images found. is produced and the count is 0.

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List All Links .md

Lists every hyperlink in the document (images are not included), and saves both the list and the link count.

When to use it: to review the links used, or to check how many there are.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Save links	Name under which the list of links is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No
Save link count	Name under which the number of links is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No

Important behavior: each entry shows the link text and its URL. Plain web addresses written in the text are recognized as links too. Images are excluded. If there are no links, No links found. is produced and the count is 0.

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List Headings .md

Lists every heading in the document with its level and text, and saves both the list and the heading count.

When to use it: to review the document’s structure, or to check how many headings it has.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Save headings	Name under which the list of headings is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No
Save heading count	Name under which the number of headings is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No

Important behavior: each entry shows the heading’s level (as #, ##, …) and its text. If there are no headings, No headings found. is produced and the count is 0.

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Validate Links .md

Checks every hyperlink in the document to see whether its address is well-formed, and saves a report together with the count of valid and invalid links.

When to use it: to catch broken or malformed link addresses before publishing the document.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Save result	Name under which the validation report is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No
Save valid count	Name under which the number of valid links is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No
Save invalid count	Name under which the number of invalid links is saved. Empty = don’t save	(empty)	No

Important behavior: this checks only that each address is properly formed (including internal # anchors) — it does not open the links or check that the pages actually exist. Images are not checked. Each entry is marked valid or invalid. If there are no links, No links found. is produced.

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