Google Docs opens .md files without converting them

In Google Docs, a .md or .markdown file stays a Markdown file. You can open it, edit it and work on it with colleagues without converting it to the Google Doc format. Google announced native Markdown support for Docs and Drive on October 5, 2026.

You can comment on these files too, and Drive adds previews for them. The post that flagged the change points to AI agents: Markdown is already the default format for handing them context and instructions.

Full rollout can take up to 15 days, so some of us will be converting files by hand a little longer.