A portable, offline Markdown editor for Windows.
Unzip. Run. No install, no Electron.
Why MDLook? · Screenshots · Features · Comparison · FAQ · Issues
Most Markdown editors are either bloated (Electron), need internet for fonts and math, or force you into a vault/project system just to open a file. MDLook is none of those.
- Double-click and read. Register
.mdfiles once, then double-click any Markdown file and it opens beautifully rendered. No project setup, no vault, no config folders. - Live preview as you type. Split-pane editor with real-time rendering. What you write on the left appears formatted on the right, instantly.
- Math and diagrams built-in. KaTeX for LaTeX equations, Mermaid for flowcharts and diagrams. No plugins, no config. Just works.
- Zero install, works offline. Unzip a folder, run
MDLook.exe. Fonts, math, diagrams and syntax highlighting are all embedded, so every feature works with no connection. The one exception is the update notice: once a day it asks GitHub whether a newer release exists. Nothing is downloaded, and a switch in the Help panel turns it off. - 17 MB to download, 33 MB installed. Not 300 MB of Chromium. Uses native Windows WebView2.
- Dark mode and Zen mode. Full dark theme. Zen mode strips the UI for distraction-free writing.
- Outline sidebar. Hierarchical table of contents for navigating long documents. Click any heading to jump, collapse or expand all sections at once.
- Teleprompter. Auto-scroll your document at adjustable speed. No other Markdown editor has this.
- A window per document. Open three files, get three windows, each remembering its own size and position. Open one that is already open and MDLook brings you to it instead of a duplicate.
- Keeps up with your files. Edit a document in another app and MDLook reloads it. If you had unsaved changes, it asks first.
Ctrl+Ssaves straight to disk.
 Edit mode — split-pane with live preview |
 Math & Diagrams — KaTeX + Mermaid, built-in |
 Math in Edit mode — source on the left, render on the right |
 Color tokens — adaptive colored text with swatches |
 Tables & Checklists — with blockquotes |
 Collapsible sections — fold any heading, block counts |
 Dark mode — full theme, easy on the eyes |
 Wide layout — dark mode + syntax highlighting |
 Zen mode — distraction-free writing |
 Source view — raw Markdown, monospace |
 Outline sidebar — hierarchical TOC for navigation |
 Outline (dark) — click any heading to jump |
 Help & shortcuts — built-in reference |
 Teleprompter — auto-scroll at adjustable speed |
- ✏️ Live split-pane editor with formatting toolbar
- 🧮 LaTeX math via KaTeX (inline
$E=mc^2$and display$$blocks$$) - 📊 Mermaid diagrams (flowcharts, sequence diagrams, Gantt charts)
- 🎨 Syntax highlighting for 30+ languages
- 🌙 Dark/light theme toggle
- 🧘 Zen mode for distraction-free writing
- 📐 Wide/narrow layout toggle
- 🧭 Outline sidebar (hierarchical TOC for navigating long documents)
- 📂 Collapsible sections (click any heading to fold)
- 🎬 Teleprompter mode (auto-scroll for presentations)
- 📤 Export to standalone HTML
- 📋 Copy HTML to the clipboard (the tags themselves, to paste where HTML source is expected)
- 🔗 File association (register
.mdfiles with a custom document icon) - 🪟 A window per document (size, position and maximized state remembered per file)
- 🕒 Recent files (menu beside Open, start page, and the Windows jump list)
- 🔄 Reloads files changed on disk (with a prompt when you have unsaved edits)
- ☑️ Clickable task checkboxes in the preview
- 🖍️ Highlight colours (
=={green}text==, eight named colours or any hex) - 🖨️ Print / export to PDF (
Ctrl+P) - 💾 Direct save to disk (
Ctrl+S, no download dialogs) - 🔎 Find (Ctrl+F) with match navigation
- 🔤 Serif or sans-serif for the document text (Help panel)
- 🌏 Vietnamese, Eastern European, Greek and Cyrillic text in the document typeface, fonts built in
- 🔍 Text size (Help panel, or Ctrl with + and −) scales the text everywhere, not just in the document
- 🎨 Color tokens for adaptive colored text
See GUIDE.md for the full feature reference with examples.
| MDLook | Typora | Obsidian | VS Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portable (no install) | Yes | No | No | No |
| Works offline | Yes, except an optional daily update check | Partial | Partial | No |
Double-click to open .md |
Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Math (KaTeX) | Built-in | Built-in | Plugin | Plugin |
| Diagrams (Mermaid) | Built-in | Built-in | Plugin | Plugin |
| Teleprompter mode | Yes | No | No | No |
| Size | 17 MB download, 33 MB installed | ~80 MB | ~300 MB | ~500 MB |
| Free | Yes | $15 | Free* | Free |
| Electron | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
*Obsidian Sync and Publish are paid.
Portable zip (17 MB) - Unzip anywhere, run MDLook.exe. Works from a USB stick, and keeps its settings beside the executable.
Installer (14 MB) - Standard Next > Next > Finish setup.
Will MDLook support macOS or Linux?
It's on the radar. MDLook started as a personal tool I built to solve my own problem as a physician. Windows is what I use daily, so that's where it runs today. If there's enough demand, cross-platform is the natural next step. Open an issue if this matters to you; that's how I gauge interest.
Is MDLook free?
MDLook is currently free to use.
My antivirus flagged MDLook as suspicious.
Most likely a false positive. MDLook is built with PyInstaller, which bundles a Python runtime into a single executable, and many antivirus engines flag PyInstaller apps on that basis alone. Every release lists the SHA-256 of both downloads so you can confirm the file you have is the file that was published, and you are welcome to submit it to VirusTotal yourself.
How do I report a bug or request a feature?
Open an issue on this repository.
Copyright 2026 Henrique Djosci Coêlho de Sá. All rights reserved.