Markdown Tip: Use 1. for All Numbered List Items

markdownwritingtips

Here’s a small but delightful Markdown trick: use 1. for every item in a numbered list.

1. First item
1. Second item
1. Third item
1. Fourth item

Markdown renders this as:

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item
4. Fourth item

Why This Is Great

Reordering becomes painless. Need to move item 3 to the top? Just cut and paste. No renumbering required.

Inserting items is friction-free. Adding a new step in the middle? Drop it in. The numbers stay correct automatically.

Merge conflicts get simpler. When two people edit the same list, you won’t fight over who changed 3. to 4..

Less cognitive load. You focus on the content, not the counting.

The Magic

Markdown parsers are smart. They see a numbered list starting with any number and continue sequentially from there. Since we always start with 1., the output is always 1, 2, 3, 4... regardless of what numbers you actually typed.

It feels wrong at first—like you’re lying to the document. But once you try it, there’s no going back.