Visual, Markdown and Preview
The three views of a page, side by side, Read Only, zoom, print and PDF.
Three views of one file
| View | Shortcut | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Visual | ⌘1 | Everyday writing — like a word processor. |
| Markdown | ⌘2 | The exact source, with syntax colours and line numbers. |
| Preview | ⌘3 | Reading, with nothing to edit by accident. |
Switching views never changes the file or its status, and keeps your place: the same block stays at the top of the window.
Markdown view
The Markdown view shows the page’s bytes exactly as they are on disk.
- Headings, emphasis, links, code and front matter are coloured, in Light and Dark.
- Find (⌘F), Find and Replace (⌥⌘F), Find Next (⌘G) and Use Selection for Find (⌘E) use the system find bar.
- Brackets, backticks and emphasis markers close themselves; ⌘B, ⌘I and ⇧⌘X wrap the selection.
- Type
](and Kirbon suggests pages and headings as paths relative to the page.
Line numbers, wrapping, auto-closing and the Markdown font are in Settings ▸ Editor.
Side by side
Preview Side by Side (⌥⌘P, or the toolbar button in Markdown) puts the rendering next to the source. It updates as you type, and with Scroll Together on, both sides keep the same block at the top. Drag the divider to give either side more room.
Preview
Preview uses the same renderer as Visual, without carets, handles or toolbars. Links open with a click (⌘-click: in a new tab, ⌥-click: in a new window), task checkboxes still tick, and text can be selected and copied.
Read Only
View ▸ Read Only makes one page read-only, so it can’t be changed by accident — handy for policies and reference pages. Allow Editing turns it off.
Zoom, print and PDF
View ▸ Zoom In (⌘+), Zoom Out (⌘−) and Actual Size (⌘0) scale the page text of the current window from 50 % to 300 %. File ▸ Print… (⌘P) and Export as PDF… use the Preview rendering of the page.