Markdown Viewers and Quick Look for Mac

On a Mac, a .md file normally opens in a text editor as plain text, and Quick Look shows the raw text too. That is fine for a quick glance, but not for reading a long README or a set of notes. These are the practical options, from no-install to full apps.

Fastest: use the browser

Open the online Markdown viewer, click Open .md file or drag the file in. It is rendered in your browser and not uploaded.

Preview in Finder with Quick Look

Quick Look can render Markdown if you add a plugin. QLMarkdown is an open-source Quick Look extension; with Homebrew you can install it with brew install --cask qlmarkdown. After that, select a Markdown file in Finder and press the space bar to see it formatted.

Apps worth knowing

• Marked 2: a paid app made for previewing. It watches a file and refreshes when you save it in any editor.
• MacDown: a free, open-source two-pane editor. It is simple, but check the project's activity before relying on it, because updates have been infrequent; community forks exist.
• Typora: a polished editor that renders as you type. Paid after the trial.
• iA Writer: a focused writing app based on Markdown. Paid.
• Obsidian: a notes app built on folders of Markdown files and links between notes.
• VS Code: free, with a built-in preview. See Markdown preview in VS Code.

Read Markdown in Terminal

If you use Terminal or iTerm2, Glow renders Markdown nicely: brew install glow, then glow README.md. More tools are covered in Markdown in the terminal.

Make a Markdown app your default

1. Select any .md file in Finder.
2. Press Command + I to open Get Info.
3. Under Open with, choose the app.
4. Click Change All so every .md file opens there.

Which should you pick?

Not sure yet? Try the online viewer first; it takes a few seconds and costs nothing.