GlyphGlance 1.4 HelpApp Store ↗

GlyphGlance Help

Read Markdown, Mermaid diagrams, and Fountain screenplays without changing the original files. GlyphGlance requires an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 26 or newer.

Choose the app language

Choose GlyphGlance → Settings… → General. Under App Language, choose English, German, French, Spanish, Hindi, or Simplified Chinese, then choose Apply and Relaunch. Follow System uses your Mac’s preferred languages. GlyphGlance restarts and reopens your documents; an open Help window switches to the selected language.

Changing the app language does not translate your documents. You can also choose the app language in System Settings → General → Language & Region → Applications, then quit and reopen GlyphGlance. Content Language in Document Info describes the document itself and helps with pronunciation and export metadata.

Open a document

Choose File → Open… or double-click a supported file. To preview a file in Finder, select it and press Space.

If Finder does not show GlyphGlance's preview, enable GlyphGlance Quick Look in System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions → Quick Look. Another Markdown preview extension may need to be disabled if it takes priority.

Supported file endings include .md, .markdown, .mdown, .mkd, .mkdn, .mermaid, .mmd, and .fountain. Leave Markdown Variant on Automatic unless a document needs a particular profile. Changing the profile affects only the current window.

Find your way around

Choose Table of Contents at the left of the toolbar to see the document's headings. The current section is highlighted. Choose a heading to jump to it; press Escape or click outside the list to close it.

In paged reading, the list also shows reader page numbers. These may differ from exported PDF pages because the window and export paper have different sizes. Documents without headings have no contents entries. Table of Contents is also available in Reading Mode.

Document Overview

Choose Document Overview at the far right of the toolbar, or press Option–Command–S, to open a miniature preview beside the document. Use the same button or shortcut to close it. Drag the divider to change its width.

In Continuous layout, the outline marks the passage you are reading. Click the minimap to jump, or drag the outline to move through the document. The minimap scrolls along with the outline, reaching the bottom together. You can also scroll the strip on its own to look ahead without moving your reading position.

In Paged layout, choose a numbered thumbnail to jump to a page. With Two Pages, each thumbnail shows a complete spread. The last spread may have an empty right half.

Overview and Info open independently. Info appears to the right of Overview, and both columns can be resized. The overview follows your reading layout, zoom, and theme. Very large documents may be readable even when their overview cannot be prepared.

Find text

Click Search or press Command–F. Matches in the displayed document are highlighted and brought into view. Search also works when the toolbar is hidden.

Command–G or Return: next match.
Command–Shift–G or Shift–Return: previous match.
Command–E: use selected document text as the search text.
Match Case: match uppercase and lowercase exactly.
Escape or Done: leave search and return to the document.

Make reading comfortable

Open Reading Appearance (Aa) to adjust the current window. Choose GlyphGlance → Settings… → Reading to save defaults for your document windows. Use Saved Preferences removes a window's temporary adjustments.

Choose a font, text size, line spacing, margins, paragraph indent, and alignment. Fit Window uses the available width; Readable Column keeps long lines within a preferred width. Wide code blocks and tables can scroll sideways.

Appearance chooses System, Light, or Dark for the reading window. Theme chooses Default, Sepia, Gray, or your own Custom page colors. System follows macOS; these choices do not change other apps. Custom offers separate light and dark background colors.

Use the toolbar's Zoom menu or Command–Plus / Command–Minus to magnify the document. Actual Size (Command–0) resets magnification. Zoom to Fit (Command–9) follows window resizing; Fit Window text already uses the available width.

Reading preferences do not change the source file, Finder Quick Look, or exported documents. Restore Default Reading Preferences in Settings restores the built-in reading settings.

Continuous or paged reading

Choose View → Reading Layout → Continuous to scroll, or Paged to turn pages. The same choice appears in Reading Appearance and Settings. In Paged layout, choose One Page or Two Pages.

Turn pages with the buttons below the document, Left/Right Arrow, Page Up/Page Down, a horizontal trackpad swipe, or a click in the blank left or right page margin. Keyboard page commands work when the document has focus. Links, text selection, search, and sideways scrolling inside wide tables keep their usual behavior.

Pages adapt to your window and reading preferences. If a layout cannot be divided safely, GlyphGlance returns to continuous reading. Animate Page Transitions controls page-turn animation; macOS Reduce Motion also disables it.

Reading Mode

Choose View → Enter Reading Mode or press Shift–Command–R for a quieter window. The main toolbar and Info sidebar disappear; Contents, Reading Appearance, and Overview remain available at the top.

Choose Exit Reading Mode, press Shift–Command–R, or press Escape to restore the previous toolbar, Info sidebar, and zoom. Escape closes an open Contents or appearance popover or Find bar first.

To enter full screen automatically, enable Settings → Reading → Reading Mode → Enter full screen when using Reading Mode. It is off by default. Leaving Reading Mode restores the previous window size; a window that was already full screen stays full screen. You can also use the green window button or Control–Command–F independently.

Choose View → Customize Toolbar…, or Control-click the toolbar. Drag buttons to add, remove, or rearrange them. Separate zoom buttons and a Reading Mode button are available here. macOS remembers the layout for document windows.

Choose View → Reset Toolbar… to restore the default buttons and order. A confirmation appears before anything changes: choose Reset Toolbar to continue or Cancel to keep your layout. Leave Reading Mode before resetting the toolbar.

The default layout puts Contents on the left, then groups Zoom and Reading Appearance, Share and Export, Markdown Variant and Info, Search, and Overview on the right.

Choose View → Hide Toolbar / Show Toolbar, or press Option–Command–T, to change toolbar visibility. Search and navigation commands remain available from the menus and keyboard.

Inspect a document

Choose Info or press Command–I to show file details, the document title, text statistics, and the selected Markdown profile. The title comes from a document heading, when available.

Content Language lets you choose the document's language when automatic detection is unsuitable. It affects the current window and its assistive reading information, not your file or the app's menu language.

If Apple Intelligence is available, the AI-generated section shows a suggested subject and summary, plus an author when the document identifies one. Not identified means no explicit author was found. You can select and copy these values or choose Try Again when generation is unavailable.

Review generated information before sharing an important document: it may be inaccurate, and long documents may be summarized from excerpts. PDF and Word exports reuse these values. Generation happens on your Mac; if it cannot finish, export continues without these optional fields. Your Mac account name is never used as the author.

Mermaid diagrams appear alongside the document's text. Hover over a diagram or move keyboard focus into it to reveal its controls:

Enlarge opens the diagram in a separate display-sized window. Escape returns to the document.
Share shares that diagram through macOS, without the surrounding document.
Copy copies the diagram; paste it into another app with Command–V. A brief checkmark confirms copying.

Sharing offers vector SVG and PDF. Copying also offers image formats for apps that need them. The receiving app chooses the format it can use. Text-only fields cannot paste a diagram image. Shared and copied diagrams use a light background.

Expand Description and source below a diagram to read its description or original text. GlyphGlance can recover from a limited kind of punctuation typo and shows a notice when it does. Other diagram errors must be corrected in the original file with an editor. GlyphGlance never edits the source.

Finder Quick Look displays diagrams and their descriptions but does not include the app's Enlarge, Share, or Copy controls.

Listen and use accessible reading controls

Choose Edit → Speech → Start Speaking to read the document aloud. Select text first to read only that selection. Pause Speaking, Resume Speaking, and Stop Speaking are in the same menu. Starting speech in another document replaces the current reading.

On macOS 27 or later, Now Playing shows the document title and offers pause/resume controls. Closing the speaking document or changing its profile or language stops the reading.

Choose your voice in System Settings → Accessibility → Read & Speak. Enhanced and Premium voices may need downloading; select the downloaded voice, then stop and restart reading in GlyphGlance. There is no separate in-app voice or speed setting.

GlyphGlance follows macOS Reduce Motion, Increase Contrast, Reduce Transparency, and Differentiate Without Color settings. Use Tab to focus a wide code block, table, or formula, then the arrow keys to scroll it. Task checkboxes report their state but cannot be edited.

Headings, lists, tables, and mathematics are exposed to assistive technologies. Diagram descriptions depend on their author. To make a Mermaid diagram easier to understand, its author can include a title and description, for example:

flowchart LR
    accTitle: Read and share a document
    accDescr: Open a document in GlyphGlance, read it, then export a copy to share.
    A[Open] --> B[Read] --> C[Export a copy]

The toolbar's Share button shares the original file. To share a rendered copy, export a PDF or Word document first.

Page Settings

Choose File → Page Settings… (Shift–Command–P) to select paper size, orientation, and scale for PDF and Word exports from the current window. Choose OK to accept or Cancel to leave settings unchanged. The default is A4 portrait at 100%.

These settings last until the document window closes. They do not change the reading layout or individual diagram sharing. Word and PDF may place page breaks differently.

Export a PDF

Choose File → Export as PDF…, the toolbar's Export → Export as PDF…, or Command–Shift–E.

Text stays selectable, and supported diagrams and mathematics stay sharp when enlarged. Viewer zoom does not change the PDF layout. Headings become clickable contents entries; in Apple's Preview, choose View → Table of Contents. No extra contents page is inserted.

Supported document structure, language, and authored descriptions are retained. The result still depends on the source document's descriptions and structure; export is not a guarantee of complete accessibility.

Export a Word document

Choose File → Export as Word… or Export → Export as Word…, then save the .docx file.

Text, headings, lists, tables, and common equations remain editable. Headings work with Word's Navigation Pane and its table-of-contents command. Mermaid diagrams remain scalable graphics; their individual shapes are not editable Word flowchart objects.

Word controls reflow and pagination. Use PDF when a fixed page layout matters. Footnotes appear as linked notes at the end, and code keeps a monospace style without syntax colors. If an image or diagram cannot be exported, GlyphGlance explains the problem instead of silently omitting it.

Both formats include the document title and export dates. Optional Apple Intelligence information can be reviewed in Info before exporting. Word places the summary in its Comments property; Preview shows PDF Subject and Author, but does not display the separate summary.

Automate repeated work

In Shortcuts, add GlyphGlance's Preview File, Export as PDF, Export as Word, or Get Document Information action. Supply the document as the action's input. After an export action, add Shortcuts' Save File action to choose where to save the result.

For a trusted app that uses MCP, open GlyphGlance → Settings… → Automation. Select the document folders it may read and separate folders for new exports, enable MCP, and copy the displayed client configuration into that app. Permission to open preview windows is a separate choice.

Only allow folders you want that client to read. The client may send returned document text to its own services. Turn MCP off or remove folder permissions to revoke access. Closing document windows does not stop a connected client. MCP never overwrites an existing export.

Get help and report a problem

Choose Help → Diagnostics… to review recent activity. Refresh updates the report; Save Report… saves the report you see. Nothing is uploaded automatically. The report excludes document names, paths, contents, and credentials. It covers the current app session's recent activity; restarting GlyphGlance clears it.

Visit GlyphGlance support and include the app and macOS versions, the steps that led to the problem, and a small non-confidential example if possible. A diagnostics report can help explain a failed operation.

Choose Help → Rate GlyphGlance… to open its Mac App Store review page. A rating prompt may also appear after you have used the app for a while; you can dismiss it without rating.

Privacy and licenses

GlyphGlance renders documents locally using bundled resources. It does not upload documents for rendering, and remote images are not loaded. Links you open and files you share use the external apps and services you choose, which have their own privacy policies.

Choose Help → Privacy Policy… to read the privacy policy, or Help → Third-Party Notices for the open-source licenses included with GlyphGlance.

GlyphGlance 1.4 · Website guide updated 2026-10-26.