Open a Markdown file without a vault
You have one .md file and you want to read it. Not import it, not index it, not pick a workspace first. There are two ways to do that now, depending on how much app you want around the file.
Short answer
- In Obsidian 1.14 or later, run Open file from outside the vault. The file opens in your current window and stays where it is. An older install needs the new installer, not just an in-app update.
- On its own, with no notes app at all: install Glance, then double-click the .md file or select it in Finder and press Space. It opens the way a PDF opens in Preview, and reading is free.
Why this used to be hard
Note apps built around a vault index a folder so that backlinks, search, and the graph have something to work on. For years that meant a file outside every vault had nowhere to open in Obsidian, and the forum answer was to make a vault for it. Obsidian 1.14, released in October 2026, added a command for opening files from outside the vault, so that answer has changed.
A notes app is still a lot of app for one file, though. If all you want is to read a README or a spec and maybe fix a line, the file can open on its own.
A document, not a workspace
Glance opens a Markdown file and shows it. There is no vault to choose, no library to import into, no plugin to install, and no settings to visit first. It is a native Mac app, 9.8 MB to download, that draws the document with Core Text and Core Graphics rather than a browser engine. Press Space on a .md file in Finder for a Quick Look preview, or double-click it to open a window.
One view, nothing to toggle
Glance has one state. The rendered page accepts typing: click a sentence and fix it, select two words for a formatting toolbar, click a table cell and Tab across the row, or click a Mermaid diagram to rewrite the source behind it. Type ## at the start of a line and it becomes a heading as you type.
Open one file, keep your vault
Free to read, Pro to edit · v0.2.2 · 9.8 MB · macOS 14+
What it leaves behind
Nothing. Glance saves plain Markdown to the same path and writes no index, no sidecar, no dot-folder, and no front matter you did not type. A file you fix in Glance opens in your vault later as an ordinary file, because that is all it ever was.
Keep both
This is not an argument to leave Obsidian. A vault is the better tool for a body of linked notes you return to, and nothing here replaces that. Glance covers the files that never belonged in a vault: a README in a cloned repo, a spec someone emailed you, the CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md files your coding agent keeps rewriting, a changelog you want to skim and close.
Related
See Markdown Quick Look for macOS for how the Finder preview works, or the step-by-step setup guide. For an app-by-app comparison, see Glance and Obsidian and the roundup of Mac Markdown apps.
FAQ
Yes, since version 1.14 in October 2026. Its Open file from outside the vault command opens the file in your current window without moving it, and Obsidian can be the default app for .md files. Both need the latest installer. If you would rather the file opened on its own, with no notes app around it, Glance does that as a small native Mac app.
Install Glance and double-click the file, or select it in Finder and press Space. It opens like a PDF opens in Preview: one document, one window, nothing created on disk and nothing added to a library.
No. Glance has a single view. The rendered page is the editable page, so you click a sentence and type. There is no reading view, no editing view, and no shortcut to toggle between them.
No. Glance saves plain Markdown back to the same file and writes no sidecar files, no index, no config folder, and no metadata. Your notes app will not notice anything happened.
Yes, and most people should. Keep the vault for your notes and use Glance for the loose files that live outside it: README files in a repo, specs in a downloads folder, docs a coding agent wrote, anything you were sent.
Ready to glance?
Free to read, Pro to edit · v0.2.2 · 9.8 MB · macOS 14+