Getting Started with Markant

Markant is a Markdown viewer for macOS. It renders .md and .mkb files with beautiful typography, native text selection, and print-quality output.

Opening files

  • Double-click any .md or .mkb file in Finder
  • Drag and drop a file onto the Markant icon in the Dock
  • File > Open (⌘O) to browse for a file
  • Quick Look — press Space on a .md or .mkb file in Finder to preview without opening

Markant opens Markdown files (.md, .markdown, .mdown, .mkd, .mkdn, .mdtext) and MarkBook archives (.mkb).

  • Sidebar (⌃⌘S) — shows a table of contents built from your headings. For MarkBooks, it also lists chapters. Click any heading to jump there.
  • Back / Forward (⌘[ / ⌘]) — navigate between pages in MarkBooks or linked documents.
  • Home (⌘⇧H) — return to index.md or the original file.
  • Search (⌘F) — find text anywhere in the document.

Customizing the view

Click the Aa button in the toolbar to open the theme picker:

  • System — follows your macOS light/dark appearance
  • Paper — warm, serif typography
  • Ink — dark theme for focused reading
  • Academic — compact, scholarly layout

You can also adjust:

  • Content width — Narrow, Relaxed, or Wide
  • Zoom — ⌘+ / ⌘- or pinch the trackpad. ⌘0 resets.

Printing and PDF

Press ⌘P to print or export to PDF. Markant re-renders the document in light mode at the page width, so the output always looks clean regardless of your current theme.

Live reload

If you edit a .md file in another app while it’s open in Markant, the view updates automatically.

What’s next

Download this article Markdown (.md) MarkBook (.mkb)

Last updated: 2026-04-14