Belvedere 2.0.0

First released on 2026-10-06, the date of the v2.0.0 tag. This release page was re-created on 2026-10-08 when the repository was replaced, so GitHub shows that date; the file and its checksum are identical.

Belvedere 2.0.0

New in this release

• File ▸ Open Folder…. A folder picker of its own, which also works with no
  window open. Dropping a folder on the Dock icon opens it too, and the button in
  Go to File's empty state uses the same picker.
• Search for Document is now Go to File…, in the Go menu, still on ⇧⌘O. It jumps to a
  file in the opened folder by name, so the new name says what it does and leaves ⇧⌘F free
  for a search of file text later.
• Full Width is the default, and each window can have its own width. Documents now use the
  whole window and follow it as you resize. The capped column, called Normal before, is now Quick
  Look Width, because it wraps lines where a Quick Look preview does. View ▸ Content Width
  changes the front window only and is not saved; Settings › General › Default content width
  is the width new windows and tabs open with, and windows that are already open keep theirs. Anyone who had chosen the old Normal width will see Full Width until they
  choose Quick Look Width.
• Belvedere is English only. The Chinese translation is removed, because no one here can keep it
  current and a half-translated interface is worse than a consistent one. Documents in any language
  still display normally.
• Lines now run together by default, as in standard Markdown, and each window can choose. A single
  new line in the source is a space, so a hard-wrapped file reflows to the window the way a README
  shows on GitHub, in the app and in Quick Look. The setting is now Single new lines, with
  Reflow (like a README), the default, and Break (like a comment), which shows every new
  line as a line break. Settings › General holds the default for new windows and tabs, and
  View › Single New Lines changes the front window only, without saving it. Anyone who had
  chosen the old Keep as typed sees Reflow until they choose Break again.
• Changing the width, font or line-break setting keeps your place instead of jumping back to the
  top of the document, in the reading view and the editor.
• Tab in a table cell selects the next cell's text. Tab, Shift-Tab and Enter move to the
  neighbouring cell with its contents selected, so typing replaces them, as in Word and
  Numbers. Before, the cell was only shaded and nothing was selected.
• ⌘N always opens a new window. With Prefer tabs on in macOS, or Belvedere's own Open documents in
  tabs, a new document used to join the front window as a tab. ⌘T is still the way to ask for a tab.
• Hover a link to see where it really goes. A small bar at the bottom of the window shows a link's
  actual destination, as a browser's status bar does, not the words the document used for it. A web
  address keeps its whole host, a relative link shows the file it points to, and an internationalised
  address appears in its safe xn-- form.
• Go to File no longer offers names that only contain your letters scattered about. Typing man
  used to offer remote-beacon.md. Abbreviations such as ug for user-guide.md still work.
• A clearer outline setting. Highlight outline section under the pointer now explains itself with an
  info popover in Settings.
• Links now use belvedere://. Belvedere no longer answers md-preview:// links, because that
  scheme belongs to the Markdown Preview app it was forked from. Change any saved link to
  belvedere://file/<absolute path>.
• Belvedere now requires macOS 26. Earlier releases stay available for macOS 15 and later. Dropping the older systems removed a second layout path for the window and toolbar, so there is one to test and one to keep correct.
• Runs natively on Intel Macs as well as Apple silicon. The release is a universal build.
• A link in a document can no longer start a program. Clicking a link to a local file opens it
  only if it is an image, audio, video, a PDF, plain text or a folder. Anything else, including
  apps, installers, scripts and files that start one, is shown in Finder so you can decide, and so
  is any file set to open in an app of its own choosing. This closes ways past the earlier check:
  a link through a symlink to an app, or to a Terminal settings file, could start a program on
  one click. Links to other documents, such as HTML or Word files, are now shown in Finder
  rather than opened.
• A link can no longer open a folder without asking. A belvedere:// link that names a folder now
  asks first, because a link can come from a web page and opening a folder lets the documents shown in
  that window display images from it. Opening a folder from Finder, the Dock or Open With is your own
  doing and still happens directly.
• Open Belvedere once after upgrading. Your saved settings are carried over to the new names the
  first time the app starts, and Quick Look previews use the defaults until then.