Reading Mode

Reading Mode keeps your place in long documents, focuses the current block, and lets you save persistent highlights.

Entering Reading Mode

Choose Preview > Reading Mode or press ⌃+⌥+R. If Speed Read is running, Marked stops it before entering Reading Mode.

The current paragraph, heading, list item, image, code block, table, or other reading unit receives a left marker. Keyboard navigation moves smoothly between blocks and keeps the current unit near the upper third of the preview. Scrolling manually retargets the focus without snapping the page.

While Reading Mode is active:

  • J or ↓: Move to the next reading unit.
  • K or ↑: Move to the previous reading unit.
  • H: Highlight the selection, or toggle a highlight on the current unit when no text is selected.

Marked saves the current reading position for each document. When a saved position differs from the current view, entering Reading Mode offers two choices:

  • Resume returns to the saved reading position.
  • Start from Here uses the reading unit currently visible in the preview.

Focus mode

Click the Focus mode tool at the top of the preview to dim every block except the current reading unit. Focus mode follows the current unit as you navigate. Click the tool again to restore the other blocks, or leave Reading Mode to clear Focus mode automatically.

Creating and editing highlights

Select text and press H to create an inline marker highlight. With no selection, press H to highlight the entire current reading unit, or press it again to remove that unit highlight. The first highlight prompts for a signature, which Marked uses when creating CriticMarkup. You can change the signature in Marked Settings, Preview pane.

Selection popup

Select text to show the selection popup with icon buttons centered in the row:

  • Highlighter creates an inline highlight (or X removes the last automatic highlight when auto-highlight is on).
  • Comment opens a dialog to add or edit a note for the highlight. If the selection is not highlighted yet, Marked highlights it first.

The popup also shows the selection word count when Show word count on selection is enabled.

Highlight comments

Comments are separate from signatures. A signature attributes the highlight; a comment is your note about it.

Add or edit a comment from the selection popup comment icon, or Control-click a highlight and choose Add Comment… or Edit Comment…. Choose Delete Comment to remove the note without deleting the highlight.

Highlights with comments show a small indicator dot. When the Comments sidebar is visible (Preview > Show Comments), Reading Mode highlight comments appear there with a connector line to the parent highlight, alongside CriticMarkup and other document comments.

Automatic highlights

Click the highlighter tool at the top of the preview to automatically highlight text as you select it. Click the highlighter in the selection popup to undo the last automatic highlight, or click the top highlighter tool again to turn automatic highlighting off.

Inline highlights display start and end handles when you point to or select them. Drag either handle to extend or contract the highlighted range. Changes are saved automatically and restored when the document is refreshed or reopened.

Click a highlight to focus it, then press Delete or Backspace to remove it. Control-click a highlight and choose Share… to open the macOS Share sheet with the document title and highlighted text, Add Comment… / Edit Comment… to attach a note, or Delete Comment to clear the note.

The Show highlights when Reading Mode is off setting controls whether saved highlights remain visible after you leave the mode.

Exporting highlights

Choose Preview > Export Highlights… or click the Export highlights tool in the Reading Mode toolbar. Formats: Markdown, HTML (current preview style), plain text, CSV (Readwise-compatible, with comments in the Note column and signatures in Signature), and JSON (includes a comment field on each highlight).

HTML export nests highlight comments as blockquotes below each highlighted passage.

The JSON format is Marked’s interchange file. Save it beside a Markdown document as Document.markedhighlights.json, or include it automatically when exporting a TextBundle.

Importing highlights

Choose Preview > Import Highlights… and select a Marked highlights JSON file. Highlights merge by id: new ids are added, matching ids update, and your existing highlights that are not in the file remain.

When you open a TextBundle that contains highlights.json, Marked merges those highlights automatically. While a TextBundle is open, Marked also saves highlight and comment changes back to highlights.json in the bundle (without modifying text.md).

TextBundle highlights

On Save TextBundle, enable Include Highlights to embed highlights.json in the bundle (or TextPack). Share the bundle so collaborators can open it in Marked and keep a combined highlight set.

CriticMarkup actions

Separate from highlight export and import, the Preview menu provides two CriticMarkup actions for saved highlights:

  • Copy Highlights as CriticMarkup copies every highlight in CriticMarkup format without changing the source file.
  • Inject Highlights into Document… asks for confirmation, then wraps unambiguous matching source text in CriticMarkup. Marked skips missing, duplicate, or overlapping matches and reports the result.

With a signature and comment, generated markup uses {==highlighted text==}{>>signature: comment<<}. With only a comment, Marked uses {==highlighted text==}{>>comment<<}. With only a signature, it uses {==highlighted text==}{>>signature<<}. Without either, Marked creates only the {==highlighted text==} marker.

Printing highlights

Reading Mode highlights are included when printing or saving as PDF by default. Use Include Reading Mode highlights in the print sheet to change it for the current output. The matching setting in Marked Settings, Export pane controls the default for future print and PDF jobs.

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