PREFERENCES

MarkText Preferences

Preferences can be controlled and modified in the settings window or via the preferences.json file in the application data directory. The authoritative list of keys, defaults, and accepted values lives in src/main/preferences/schema.json — the tables below mirror that schema.

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 or 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 and 2.0 inclusive.
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 (ascending) or desc (descending).
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 or % suffix.
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 (OS default), lf, or crlf.
defaultEncoding	String	utf8	The default file encoding. See src/main/preferences/schema.json for the full enum (35 encodings).
autoGuessEncoding	Boolean	true	Try to automatically guess the file encoding when opening files.
trimTrailingNewline	Number	2	Trailing-newline handling: 0 trim all, 1 ensure single newline, 2 auto-detect, 3 disabled.
textDirection	String	ltr	Writing direction: ltr or 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, or a number 1–4.
frontmatterType	String	-	Frontmatter delimiter: - (YAML), + (TOML), ; (JSON), or { (JSON).
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 or 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 is true).
darkModeTheme	String	dark	Theme id used when the system is in dark mode (only when followSystemTheme is 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, or path.
imagePreferRelativeDirectory	Boolean	false	Prefer the relative image directory when copying images.
imageRelativeDirectoryBase	String	file	Where relative images are anchored: file (next to the document) or folder (project root).
imageRelativeDirectoryName	String	assets	Folder name (or relative path) used for local image copies. Supports the ${filename} variable.

Editable via file

These entries are marked --internal in the schema. They have no UI control and must be edited directly in 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). Empty means unlimited.
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.