The file explorer shows your project’s folder structure as a hierarchical tree. Files are displayed with type icons to distinguish Markdown documents, images, PDFs, and other formats at a glance.
Context Menu Operations
Right-click any file or folder to open a context menu. The available actions include:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| New File | Create a new file inside the selected folder |
| New Folder | Create a new subfolder inside the selected folder |
| Copy / Cut / Paste | Copy or move files within the tree |
| Copy Full Path | Copy the file’s absolute path to the clipboard |
| Copy Path from Project Root | Copy the file’s path relative to the project root |
| Copy Path from Doc Root | Copy the path relative to the document root (when one is configured) |
| Open in Preview | Open a Markdown file directly in preview mode |
| Open in Default App | Open the file with the OS default app for that type |
| Show in Finder / Show in Explorer | Reveal the file in macOS Finder or Windows Explorer |
| Find References | Search the project for everything that links to a Markdown file |
| Rename | Rename the file or folder inline |
| Delete… | Move the file or folder to the system trash (after confirmation) |
| Reload Folder from Disk / Reload Project from Disk | Re-read from disk, picking up external changes |
| Recover Previous Version | Restore an earlier automatic backup of the file |
| Always Show ‘*.ext’ | Only shown when Show Ignored Files is on and you right-click a single ignored file or folder — adds an Always Show Pattern for it. See Ignored Files and Always Show Patterns below |
Copy, Cut, and Paste
Select a file and press Cmd+C (macOS) or Ctrl+C (Windows/Linux) to copy it. Press Cmd+V / Ctrl+V with a folder selected to paste the copy into that folder. Use Cmd+X / Ctrl+X to cut — the file is moved rather than duplicated when you paste.
You can select multiple files with Cmd+Click or Shift+Click and then copy or cut the whole selection.
Cross-Project Drag and Drop
Drag a file from one MarkNode window’s file explorer and drop it onto another window’s file explorer to move the file between projects. Hold Alt (Windows/Linux) or Option (macOS) while dragging to copy the file instead of moving it.
Color Tags
Assign a color flag to any file or folder to visually organize your project. Right-click an item and choose Flag Red, Flag Blue, Flag Green, Flag Yellow, or Flag Purple. Flagged items display a colored indicator in the tree.
Color flags are stored in a project metadata file inside the project folder. To remove a flag, right-click the item and choose Clear Flag.
Dragging Files into the Editor
Drag a file from the file explorer and drop it onto the editor to insert a Markdown link at the cursor position:
- Image files (
.png,.jpg,.gif,.svg, etc.) are inserted as image syntax: - All other files are inserted as link syntax:
[filename](relative/path/to/file.md)
The path is always relative to the current document.
Dragging Files from Finder or Explorer
You can also drag files from macOS Finder or Windows File Explorer directly into the file tree. The dragged files are copied into the folder you drop them onto. If you drop an image, it is also available to drag into the editor from there.
Toolbar Buttons
The file explorer toolbar at the top of the panel has two direct buttons plus a “More” (⋮) overflow menu:
- New File — create a new file in the currently selected folder, or in the project root if nothing is selected
- New Folder — create a new folder in the currently selected folder
- More (⋮) — opens a menu with Expand All, Collapse All, Reload Project from Disk (refresh the entire tree from disk, picking up any changes made by external tools), Show/Hide Ignored Files, and Always Show Patterns…
Ignored Files and Always Show Patterns
MarkNode hides gitignored files from the tree by default — dimmed slightly if you’ve chosen to reveal them. Show/Hide Ignored Files, in the ⋮ menu, is a simple on/off toggle for all of them at once.
Always Show Patterns…, directly below that toggle, opens a popover for keeping a chosen subset of ignored files visible even while the toggle is off — useful when you want to see a few gitignored files (like pre-processed .markdown sources) without cluttering the tree with everything else your .gitignore hides. The popover shows:
- Patterns inherited from your global settings, each with a control to disable it for this project only
- This project’s own patterns, which you can remove
- An input at the bottom for typing a new pattern (
.gitignoresyntax — for example*.markdownordist/)
The quickest way to build a project’s pattern list: turn on Show Ignored Files, right-click the files or folders you want to keep visible, choose Always Show ‘*.ext’ from the context menu, then turn the toggle back off. The files you picked stay visible; everything else stays hidden.