MarkView

A fast, lightweight, and elegant Markdown viewer built with Python and PySide6.

Screenshots

Dark theme with syntax highlighting and table of contents

markdown file with clean, readable interface

Multi-tab support for working with multiple documents

Features

Core Functionality

• Live Preview - Real-time rendering of Markdown files with automatic reload on file changes
• Syntax Highlighting - Beautiful code syntax highlighting powered by Pygments
• GitHub Flavored Markdown - Full support for GFM including tables, task lists, and strikethrough
• Table of Contents - Auto-generated TOC with clickable navigation
• Multi-Tab Interface - Open and work with multiple Markdown files simultaneously

User Experience

• Dark & Light Themes - Choose your preferred theme with customizable fonts and sizes
• Frameless Design - Modern, clean interface with custom title bar
• Search - Find text within your documents with keyboard shortcuts
• Zoom Controls - Adjust content size with Ctrl+/Ctrl- or zoom buttons
• Drag & Drop - Simply drag Markdown files into the window to open them
• Recent Files - Quick access to recently opened documents

Export & Integration

• PDF Export - Export your rendered Markdown to PDF
• HTML Export - Save as standalone HTML with embedded styles
• External Editor - Open current file in your default editor with Ctrl+E
• Command Line - Open files directly from terminal: markview file.md

Advanced Features

• Footnotes - Full support for Markdown footnotes
• Task Lists - Interactive checkboxes for task lists
• Auto-linking - Automatic URL detection and linking
• Typography - Smart quotes and typographic enhancements
• Sidebar Toggle - Show/hide TOC sidebar with Ctrl+B
• Fullscreen Mode - Distraction-free reading with F11

Installation

Download Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page:

• Windows: MarkView-Windows.zip
• macOS: MarkView-macOS.zip
• Linux: MarkView-Linux.zip

Extract and run the executable.

Run from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/MarkView.git
cd MarkView

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the application
python run.py

Usage

Opening Files

From GUI:

• File menu → Open (Ctrl+O)
• Drag and drop Markdown files into the window
• Recent files menu in title bar

From Command Line:

markview document.md

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+O	Open file
Ctrl+T	New tab
Ctrl+W	Close tab
Ctrl+Tab	Next tab
Ctrl+Shift+Tab	Previous tab
Ctrl+F	Find in document
Ctrl+B	Toggle sidebar
Ctrl+E	Open in external editor
Ctrl++	Zoom in
Ctrl+-	Zoom out
Ctrl+0	Reset zoom
Ctrl+,	Settings
Ctrl+Shift+N	New window
F11	Fullscreen

Customization

Access settings via Ctrl+, or File menu → Settings:

• Theme: Dark or Light mode
• Font Family: Choose your preferred font
• Font Size: Adjust text size (12-24px)
• Code Font: Separate font for code blocks
• Line Height: Customize reading comfort

Building from Source

See BUILD.md for detailed build instructions.

Quick Build

# Install build dependencies
pip install pyinstaller pillow

# Generate icons (optional, pre-built icons included)
python build_icon.py

# Build executable
pyinstaller MarkView.spec

The executable will be in the dist/ directory.

Technology Stack

• Python 3.11+ - Core language
• PySide6 - Qt6 bindings for GUI
• markdown-it-py - Markdown parsing
• Pygments - Syntax highlighting
• watchdog - File system monitoring

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Built with PySide6
• Markdown parsing by markdown-it-py
• Syntax highlighting by Pygments

Support

If you find MarkView useful, consider:

• ⭐ Starring the repository
• 🐛 Reporting bugs
• 💡 Suggesting new features
• 📖 Improving documentation

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MarkView - Fast, lightweight Markdown viewer. Free forever. No telemetry.