Usage

SkimDown is designed around one flow: open a folder, skim its Markdown tree, and read the selected file in a clean preview.

Core workflow

1. Open a folder with File > Open Folder..., Cmd+O, the empty-state button, or folder drag and drop.
2. Select a Markdown file from the sidebar.
3. Read the rendered preview.
4. Use Cmd+F to search within the current file.
5. Follow relative Markdown links to move between files.

What appears in the sidebar

SkimDown shows .md and .markdown files only. It scans recursively, hides hidden files and folders, skips common generated directories, and omits empty folders that contain no Markdown.

What does not appear

SkimDown is read-only. It does not edit Markdown, add comments, export, print, perform file-name search, or search across multiple files.

Try with sample files

Want to see what SkimDown can render before opening your own folder? The repository ships a samples/ directory containing reference Markdown files that exercise every supported syntax.

The samples cover:

• Basics — headings, text formatting, links and images, lists
• Block elements — blockquotes, code blocks, tables, horizontal rules
• Extended — footnotes, math (KaTeX), diagrams (Mermaid), HTML elements
• Miscellaneous — deeply nested folders, an all-in-one file, and .markdown extension support

To try them:

1. Clone or download the repository.
2. In SkimDown choose File → Open Folder… and pick samples/en (English) or samples/ja (Japanese).
3. Browse the tree and read each sample.

See samples/README.md for the full file index. SkimDown is read-only, so opening the samples folder will never modify or add anything in it.

More usage topics

• Open folders
• Preview
• Search
• Live reload
• Security model