Quick Look extension for Markdown · macOS 14+ · free

Quick Look for Markdown: press Space, see the page

macOS previews a .md file as raw text. Install Hem, open it once, and the space bar in Finder shows the rendered document: headings, tables, code, diagrams and maths

Download for macOS

Version 1.2 · 5.7 MB · macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Apple silicon

A Markdown document with a LaTeX formula, a Mermaid flowchart and a table, rendered by Hem the way its Quick Look preview shows it.

Set it up in three steps

Install Hem
Download it and drag it into Applications. The Quick Look extension is inside the app; there is nothing separate to install
Open it once
The first launch registers the extension with macOS. You can quit Hem afterwards; previews keep working
Press Space on a .md file
In Finder, on the Desktop, in a Spotlight result or in an Open dialog. The preview appears as a formatted page

What the preview shows

The same rendering as the app

GitHub Flavored Markdown with tables and task lists, drawn by the same renderer as the main window

Code, Mermaid and LaTeX

Highlighted code blocks, diagrams and formulas, rendered locally with no internet connection

Mermaid on a Mac →

Light and dark

The preview follows the appearance and text settings you chose in Hem

A modern extension

Built on the app-extension mechanism current macOS expects, not the .qlgenerator plug-ins Apple retired, so it survives system upgrades

How Quick Look extensions work →

Every common extension

.md, .markdown, .mdown, .mkd and .mkdn, including files such as README.md, AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md

Read-only and local

A preview never changes the file and never sends it anywhere

If Space still shows raw text

Open Hem once so macOS registers the extension, then try again. If another app’s preview appears instead, open System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions › Quick Look and choose Hem for Markdown

Files with unusual extensions that macOS does not recognise as Markdown are previewed as plain text by the system; renaming them to .md fixes it

The full troubleshooting guide →

Questions about Quick Look and Markdown

How do I preview Markdown files in Finder on a Mac?

Install an app with a Quick Look extension for Markdown, such as Hem, and open it once. Then select a .md file in Finder and press Space

Why does Quick Look show my .md file as plain text?

macOS has no built-in Markdown renderer, so without an extension it treats .md as text. Installing an app that provides a Quick Look extension changes the preview

Is this a replacement for QLMarkdown?

For previews, yes. QLMarkdown is a free, capable previewer with many rendering options. Hem’s extension is part of a full viewer and editor, so the same app opens the file when you want more than a glance

Do I have to keep Hem running?

No. macOS loads the extension when you press Space, whether or not the app is open

Does the preview work in macOS 14, 15 and later?

Yes. Hem needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer). The download is 5.7 MB

Quick Look for Markdown: press Space, see the page

Set it up in three steps

Install Hem

Open it once

Press Space on a .md file