Double-click it and it opens in TextEdit (or Xcode, if you have it), showing the raw text: # in front of the titles and ** around words. macOS has no built-in way to show Markdown formatted, and that includes the spacebar preview.
To read it formatted, install a free viewer. QLMarkdown makes the spacebar preview show formatting, and Obsidian opens the file as a formatted page.
What an .md file is
A file ending in .md is a Markdown file: plain text with a few symbols that stand in for formatting. A line starting with # is a heading, **word** means bold, and a line starting with - is a bullet point. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini format their answers this way behind the scenes, so downloads and exports from them often arrive as .md files.
The file isn’t broken. Your Mac just doesn’t know how to dress it up.
Make the spacebar preview show formatting
Select a file in Finder and press the spacebar, and Quick Look shows you a preview. For .md files, that preview is plain text. QLMarkdown fixes it. It’s free, open source, and still actively updated.
- Download it from the project’s GitHub Releases page, or install it with Homebrew:
brew install --cask qlmarkdown - Open the QLMarkdown app once. That’s what registers the preview with macOS.
- Select an .md file in Finder and press the spacebar.
This is the lightest option on this page. Nothing changes about how the file opens. You just get a formatted look before you open it.
Apps that open it formatted
Obsidian (free)
Obsidian is a free note-taking app that shows Markdown formatted as you read and type. The catch: it’s built around a “vault,” a folder of notes it manages, so you set one up before you open anything. Great if you want a notes system. A lot of ceremony for one file from ChatGPT.
Typora (paid)
Typora hides the symbols as you type, which makes it feel close to a word processor. It costs $14.99 after a 15-day free trial.
VS Code (free)
If you write code, open the file in VS Code and press ⇧⌘V for a formatted preview, or ⌘K then V to see it next to the raw text. Heavy to install just for reading, but very good at it.
Make an app the default for .md files
- Select any .md file in Finder and choose File > Get Info (or Control-click the file and choose Get Info).
- Expand Open with and pick the app from the menu.
- Click Change All so every .md file uses it.
Italics for Mac is coming soon
Italics opens .md files as clean documents you can read and edit like Word, with no symbols at any point. It runs on Windows today, and the Mac version is on its way.
See how Italics works