User docs / Configuration / Preferences User documentation
Preferences MarkText Preferences#
Preferences can be controlled and modified in the settings window or via the preferences.json application data directory . The authoritative list of keys, defaults, and accepted values lives in src/main/preferences/schema.json
General#
Key Type Default Description autoSave Boolean false Automatically save the content being edited. autoSaveDelay Number 5000 The delay in milliseconds after a change before a file is saved automatically. Minimum 1000 titleBarStyle String custom The title bar style on Linux and Windows: custom native openFilesInNewWindow Boolean false Open files in a new window. openFolderInNewWindow Boolean false Open folder via menu in a new window. zoom Number 1.0 The zoom level. Between 0.5 2.0 hideScrollbar Boolean false Whether to hide scrollbars. wordWrapInToc Boolean false Whether to enable word wrap in the table of contents. fileSortBy String modified Sort files in the opened folder. Optional values: created modified title fileSortOrder String asc Sort order for files in opened folders: asc desc startUpAction String restoreAll The action when MarkText launches. Optional values: folder openLastFolder blank restoreAll defaultDirectoryToOpen String "" The path that should be opened when startUpAction=folder language String en The display language MarkText uses. restoreLayoutState Boolean true Restore the previous editor state (open tabs, layout) on startup. openedFilesInSidebar Boolean true Whether to show the Opened Files subsection inside the sidebar file tree.
Editor#
Key Type Default Description editorFontFamily String Open Sans Editor font family. fontSize Number 16 Font size in pixels. Range 12 32 lineHeight Number 1.6 Line height. Range 1.2 2.0 wrapCodeBlocks Boolean true Wrap text inside code blocks. editorLineWidth String "" Maximum editor area width. Empty or a value with a ch px % codeFontSize Number 14 Font size inside code blocks. Range 12 28 codeFontFamily String DejaVu Sans Mono Code-block font family. codeBlockLineNumbers Boolean true Show line numbers inside code blocks. trimUnnecessaryCodeBlockEmptyLines Boolean true Trim the beginning and ending empty lines in code blocks. autoPairBracket Boolean true Auto-close brackets when editing. autoPairMarkdownSyntax Boolean true Autocomplete markdown syntax. autoPairQuote Boolean true Auto-close quotes. endOfLine String default Newline character at the end of each line: default lf crlf defaultEncoding String utf8 The default file encoding. See src/main/preferences/schema.json autoGuessEncoding Boolean true Try to automatically guess the file encoding when opening files. trimTrailingNewline Number 2 Trailing-newline handling: 0 1 2 3 textDirection String ltr Writing direction: ltr rtl hideQuickInsertHint Boolean false Hide the hint for the quick-insert overlay. hideLinkPopup Boolean false Hide the link popup when the cursor hovers over a link. autoCheck Boolean false Whether to automatically check related task items when one is toggled. autoNormalizeLineEndings Boolean false Automatically normalize line endings when opening files. When disabled, files are opened as-is.
Markdown#
Key Type Default Description preferLooseListItem Boolean true The preferred list type. bulletListMarker String - Marker for bullet lists. Optional values: - * + orderListDelimiter String . Delimiter for ordered lists. Optional values: . ) preferHeadingStyle String atx Heading style. Optional values: atx setext details ). tabSize Number 4 Number of spaces a tab equals. listIndentation Mixed 1 List indentation. Optional values: dfm tab 1 4 frontmatterType String - Frontmatter delimiter: - + ; { superSubScript Boolean false Enable pandoc's superscript/subscript markdown extension. footnote Boolean false Enable pandoc's footnote markdown extension. isHtmlEnabled Boolean true Enable inline HTML rendering. isGitlabCompatibilityEnabled Boolean false Enable GitLab compatibility mode. sequenceTheme String hand Theme for js-sequence-diagrams : hand simple
Theme#
Key Type Default Description theme String light The current theme id. See Themes for the full list. followSystemTheme Boolean false Follow the system light/dark mode and switch automatically. lightModeTheme String light Theme id used when the system is in light mode (only when followSystemTheme true darkModeTheme String dark Theme id used when the system is in dark mode (only when followSystemTheme true
Spelling#
Key Type Default Description spellcheckerEnabled Boolean false Whether spell checking is enabled. spellcheckerNoUnderline Boolean false Don't underline spelling mistakes. spellcheckerLanguage String en-US The spell-checker language (BCP-47, e.g. en-US de-DE zh-CN
Image#
Key Type Default Description imageInsertAction String path Default action after inserting a local image: upload folder path imagePreferRelativeDirectory Boolean false Prefer the relative image directory when copying images. imageRelativeDirectoryBase String file Where relative images are anchored: file folder imageRelativeDirectoryName String assets Folder name (or relative path) used for local image copies. Supports the ${filename}
Editable via file#
These entries are marked --internal preferences.json
View#
Key Type Default Description sideBarVisibility Boolean false Initial visibility of the sidebar. Overridden by the menu / shortcut. tabBarVisibility Boolean false Initial visibility of the tab bar. Overridden by the menu / shortcut. sourceCodeModeEnabled Boolean false Initial source-code mode state. Overridden by the menu / shortcut.
General (internal)#
Key Type Default Description lastOpenedFolder String "" The last folder opened in MarkText (used for session restore).
Custom CSS#
Key Type Default Description customCss String "" Extra CSS appended after the active theme stylesheet.
File system / Searcher#
Key Type Default Description searchExclusions Array of Strings [] Filename glob exclusions for the in-folder search. searchMaxFileSize String "" Maximum file size to search in (e.g. 50K 10M 2G searchIncludeHidden Boolean false Search hidden files and directories. searchNoIgnore Boolean false Don't respect ignore files such as .gitignore searchFollowSymlinks Boolean true Whether to follow symbolic links.
Watcher#
Key Type Default Description watcherUsePolling Boolean false Use polling to receive file changes. Necessary for network shares; may cause high CPU utilization on large workspaces.
