Overview

If you are new to R Markdown, we recommend you start with R Markdown: The Definitive Guide to get an overview. Part I introduces how to install the relevant packages, and provides an overview of R Markdown, including the possible output formats, the Markdown syntax, the R code chunk syntax, and how to use other languages in R Markdown.

Next, the chapter on Books will help orient you to how the bookdown package allows you to use R Markdown to author books, using single or multiple .Rmd files to build your content.

User Guide

Written by Yihui Xie, the package author, bookdown: Authoring Books and Technical Documents with R Markdown introduces the R package and how to use it. The book is published by Chapman & Hall/CRC, and you can read it online for free.

The book is structured into several chapters to guide the reader into the use of the R package bookdown to write books:

• 1. Introduction introduces the package and how to get started using it.
• 2. Components introduces elements than can be used while writing a book like Markdown syntax, custom blocks, Theorem and Proof environments, and numbered references.
• 3. Output Formats documents the formats to produce HTML, PDF, and EPUB books.
• 4. Customization documents the configuration options available for authors.
• 5. Editing explains how to edit, build, preview, and serve the book locally.
• 6. Publishing explains how to publish your book early online for feedback, and how to formally publish as either printed copies or e-books.

Going further with examples

https://bookdown.org is the place to find examples of books created with bookdown.

• The Home section showcases featured books available online, with links to each book’s source code.
• The Books section lists books written using bookdown.
• The Contest section showcases the award recipients and their bookdown applications from the 2018 bookdown contest.

See more about how to publish a book or get your book listed on the About bookdown.org.

Look also at the “Examples” page.