MarkView Support - Help & FAQ for Markdown Viewer Extension

To view local .md files from your computer:

1. Open Chrome and navigate to chrome://extensions/
2. Find MarkView in your extensions list
3. Click the "Details" button
4. Scroll down to find "Allow access to file URLs"
5. Toggle the switch to ON (blue)

Now you can drag-and-drop local .md files into Chrome or open them with File → Open File (Ctrl+O).

Yes! But you need to view the raw markdown file, not GitHub's rendered HTML page.

How to do it:

1. Open a markdown file on GitHub (e.g., README.md)
2. Click the "Raw" button in the top-right corner
3. MarkView will automatically render the raw markdown beautifully

URL Examples:

• ❌ Won't work: github.com/user/repo/blob/main/README.md
• ✅ Will work: raw.githubusercontent.com/user/repo/main/README.md

Method 1: Extension Popup

1. Click the MarkView icon in Chrome's toolbar
2. Find the "Theme" dropdown in the popup
3. Select Dark, Light, or Auto (follows system preference)

Method 2: Keyboard Shortcut

• Press Ctrl+Shift+D (Windows/Linux)
• Press Cmd+Shift+D (Mac)

Your theme preference is saved automatically and applies to all markdown files.

Absolutely! MarkView offers extensive customization options:

• Font Family: Choose from 9 beautiful fonts including Inter, Merriweather, Merriweather Sans, Noto Sans, Noto Serif SC, Open Sans, Roboto, Source Sans 3, and Default (system fonts)
• Font Size: Adjust from 12px to 24px with a slider
• Line Height: Control spacing between lines (1.0 to 2.5)
• Max Width: Set content width from 600px to 1200px
• Centered Layout: Toggle centered vs full-width layout

All settings are accessible from the extension popup and saved automatically.

Yes! MarkView supports 12 languages with automatic detection.

Supported Languages:

• 🇬🇧 English (en)
• 🇻🇳 Vietnamese (vi) - Tiếng Việt
• 🇯🇵 Japanese (ja) - 日本語
• 🇰🇷 Korean (ko) - 한국어
• 🇨🇳 Simplified Chinese (zh_CN) - 简体中文
• 🇹🇼 Traditional Chinese (zh_TW) - 繁體中文
• 🇪🇸 Spanish (es) - Español
• 🇫🇷 French (fr) - Français
• 🇧🇷 Portuguese (pt) - Português (Brasil)
• 🇮🇩 Indonesian (id) - Bahasa Indonesia
• 🇩🇪 German (de) - Deutsch
• 🇷🇺 Russian (ru) - Русский

How to change language:

1. Click the MarkView icon in Chrome's toolbar
2. Find the "Language" selector in the General settings
3. Choose "Auto" (uses browser language) or select a specific language
4. The page reloads automatically with the new language

Yes! Auto-refresh works for both local and external files.

For local files (file:///):

• First, click "Select Folder" in the sidebar and choose the folder containing your markdown file
• MarkView uses the File System Access API to watch for file changes
• Checks every 2 seconds for updates to the file's last modified timestamp
• Permission persists across browser sessions (stored in IndexedDB)
• ⚠️ Note: File must be within the selected folder for auto-refresh to work

For external files (GitHub, etc.):

• Enable auto-refresh in the popup settings
• The page will check for updates every 2 seconds
• Changes are applied automatically
• No folder selection required

The TOC sidebar appears automatically for markdown files with headings.

To toggle visibility:

• Click the TOC button (≡ icon) in the top-right corner
• Or press Ctrl+Shift+L (Windows/Linux) / Cmd+Shift+L (Mac)

Features:

• Automatically highlights current section as you scroll
• Click any heading to jump to that section
• Shows nested heading structure
• Visibility preference is saved

Yes! MarkView includes a powerful image viewer.

How to use:

1. Click any image in the markdown document
2. Image opens in fullscreen lightbox
3. Use arrow keys or on-screen buttons to navigate between images
4. Press Esc or click the close button to exit

Features:

• Fullscreen viewing with dark overlay
• Gallery navigation (next/previous)
• Lazy loading for performance
• Keyboard navigation support

MarkView supports GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) and advanced features:

Standard Markdown:

• ✅ Headings (H1-H6)
• ✅ Bold, italic, strikethrough formatting
• ✅ Ordered and unordered lists (with nesting)
• ✅ Task lists with checkboxes
• ✅ Links and images (inline and reference style)
• ✅ Blockquotes
• ✅ Horizontal rules
• ✅ Inline code and code blocks

Advanced Features:

• ✅ Syntax highlighting for 180+ languages
• ✅ Tables with alignment
• ✅ Mermaid diagrams (flowcharts, sequence, Gantt, etc.)
• ✅ KaTeX math equations (inline and block)
• ✅ Emoji :smile: :rocket:
• ✅ HTML (rendered as-is)
• ✅ Footnotes

Yes! MarkView supports exporting to multiple formats.

Supported Export Formats:

• ✅ HTML - Standalone HTML file with embedded styles
• ✅ DOCX (Word) - Microsoft Word document with full formatting
• ✅ PDF - Via Chrome's print dialog (Ctrl+P → Save as PDF)

How to export:

1. Open any markdown file in MarkView
2. Click the Action Button in the bottom-right corner
3. Select "Export to HTML" or "Export to Word"
4. File downloads automatically to your default download folder

Export Features:

• ✅ Preserves all formatting, code highlighting, and styles
• ✅ Includes images (embedded as base64 or links)
• ✅ Maintains tables, lists, and blockquotes
• ✅ Converts Mermaid diagrams to static images
• ✅ Renders math equations correctly

Privacy Note: All export processing happens locally in your browser. No data is sent to external servers.

MarkView is designed to render raw markdown files, not websites that already display markdown content.

Where MarkView works:

• ✅ Local .md files (file:///path/to/file.md)
• ✅ Raw GitHub files (raw.githubusercontent.com/...)
• ✅ Any URL ending in .md served as plain text

Where MarkView won't activate:

• ❌ GitHub blob pages (github.com/user/repo/blob/main/README.md) - GitHub already renders markdown beautifully
• ❌ Documentation websites (DeepWiki, ReadTheDocs, GitBook, etc.) - these are web apps with their own markdown rendering
• ❌ Any page that's already a full web application

Why? These sites are complete web applications that already render markdown with their own styling, navigation, and features. If MarkView activated, it would break their interface!

Quick tip: To use MarkView with GitHub, click the "Raw" button to view the raw markdown file.

If Mermaid diagrams aren't showing, try these solutions:

1. Check syntax: Ensure your Mermaid code is valid. Test it at mermaid.live
2. Verify code block: Use triple backticks with mermaid language identifier:

   ```mermaid
   graph TD
       A --> B
   ```

3. Refresh page: Press F5 to reload
4. Check console: Press F12 to open DevTools and look for error messages

For KaTeX math rendering issues:

Inline Math: Use single dollar signs:

Einstein's equation is $E = mc^2$

Block Math: Use double dollar signs:

$$
\int_{a}^{b} x^2 \,dx = \frac{x^3}{3} \Big|_a^b
$$

Common issues:

• Ensure LaTeX syntax is valid
• Escape special characters when needed
• Use \\ for line breaks in block equations
• Test equations at katex.org

If MarkView stops working after a Chrome update:

1. Reload the extension: Go to chrome://extensions/, find MarkView, click the reload icon
2. Clear cache: In Chrome settings, clear browsing data (cached images and files)
3. Reinstall: Remove and reinstall MarkView from Chrome Web Store
4. Check for updates: Ensure you have the latest version of MarkView
5. Contact support: If issues persist, email us at [email protected]

No. MarkView does NOT collect any personal data whatsoever.

What we DON'T collect:

• ❌ Your markdown file contents
• ❌ Browsing history or URLs
• ❌ Personal information
• ❌ Analytics or usage statistics
• ❌ IP addresses or device data

What stays on your device:

• ✅ Theme preferences
• ✅ Font and layout settings
• ✅ Feature toggles

All processing happens locally in your browser. Read our full Privacy Policy for details.

MarkView renders markdown as-is, including any HTML or JavaScript code it contains.

Safety guidelines:

• ✅ Safe: Markdown files from trusted sources (your own, official documentation)
• ⚠️ Caution: Files from unknown sources or untrusted websites
• ❌ Avoid: Files that could contain malicious code

Best practices:

• Only open markdown files you trust
• Be cautious with files containing embedded HTML/JavaScript
• Keep Chrome and MarkView updated
• Use antivirus software for downloaded files

Yes! MarkView is fully print-friendly.

How to print:

1. Press Ctrl+P (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+P (Mac)
2. Chrome's print dialog opens
3. MarkView automatically loads all lazy-loaded images
4. Sidebars and UI elements are hidden in print view
5. Choose "Print" or "Save as PDF"

The printed output is clean and professional, perfect for documentation or reports.

We welcome your feedback! Here's how to reach us:

Bug Reports:

• GitHub Issues: Submit Bug Report
• Include: Chrome version, MarkView version, steps to reproduce, screenshots

Feature Requests:

• GitHub Issues: Request Feature
• Describe the feature and why it would be useful

General Questions:

• Check this FAQ first
• Email us if you can't find your answer

Yes! MarkView is free to use with all core features included.

What's included:

• ✅ All markdown rendering features
• ✅ Syntax highlighting (180+ languages)
• ✅ Mermaid diagrams
• ✅ KaTeX math equations
• ✅ Full customization options
• ✅ No ads or tracking

We're committed to providing a great markdown viewing experience.

MarkView works on all Chromium-based browsers:

• ✅ Google Chrome - Install from Chrome Web Store
• ✅ Microsoft Edge - Install from Edge Add-ons
• ✅ Brave - Install via Chrome Web Store
• ✅ Opera - Install via Chrome Web Store
• ✅ Vivaldi - Install via Chrome Web Store

All features work identically across all supported browsers.