Saving, history & recovery

Saving

Action	Windows / Linux	macOS
Save	Ctrl+S	Cmd+S
Save As	Ctrl+Shift+S	Cmd+Shift+S
Save All	Ctrl+Alt+S	Cmd+Option+S

A new document asks for a name and location the first time you save it; the suggested name comes from its title (the front matter title, or else the first # heading), so "# Meeting Notes" suggests Meeting Notes.md, and the dialog starts in the open folder or, without one, in the folder of another open file. To rename a saved file later, use File → Rename File… or right-click its tab → Rename…. Saving is atomic: the text is written to a temporary file that then replaces the original, so an interruption (a crash or power loss) can't leave a half-written file.

If saving fails, the document stays marked as unsaved and your text stays in the editor. The message says what happened and what to do, for example:

• No permission to write here: use Save As to save a copy somewhere else.
• The disk is full: free up space and save again.
• The file was changed by another program: see below.

Auto save

Auto save is off by default. In Settings → Files → Auto save, choose:

• After a delay: saves 0.5 to 30 seconds after you stop typing.
• When switching tabs or windows: saves when the editor loses focus.

Untitled documents are never auto-saved, and auto save never overwrites a file that was changed on disk.

Files changed on disk

Markpion notices when a file you have open is changed by another program:

• If you have no unsaved changes, the tab reloads automatically.
• If you have unsaved changes, a banner offers:
  • Reload (discard mine): load the version on disk.
  • Compare: open the version on disk so you can compare the two.
  • Keep Mine: keep your text; the next save overwrites the file on disk.

Saving over a file that changed since you opened it is refused until you choose, so no one's work is overwritten silently.

Read-only files

A file that's read-only on disk (the read-only attribute, or no write permission) opens locked: a bar above the editor says so, the status bar shows Read-only, and neither typing nor formatting commands change it. From the bar:

• Save As… saves a copy you can edit.
• Edit Anyway unlocks editing. Saving over the file still fails until its read-only flag is removed, and then offers Save As instead.

To protect any document from accidental edits, for example a policy you're only reading, use View → Editor → Read-Only; Allow Editing in the bar (or the same command) unlocks it. Reloading a file from disk locks it again if it's still read-only.

File history

Every time you save a file, Markpion keeps the previous version in its app data folder, not next to your files. The last 30 versions of each file are kept.

Open File → File History… (or right-click a tab → File History…) to see the versions with their dates and a line-by-line diff against the current text. In a line that changed, the words that differ are marked more strongly (and struck through on the old line), so a one-word edit in a long paragraph is easy to spot. Restore puts an old version into the editor as a normal edit, so you can undo it or save it.

While you have unsaved changes, the list starts with Saved file, selected first: the diff shows exactly what saving would change, and Restore discards your unsaved changes (undo brings them back).

When the file is committed to Git, the list also has Last commit: compare the whole file with its committed version, or restore it. (For single changes, use the change bars in the editor.) This needs Git installed and Settings → Files → Show Git branch, changed files and changed lines on.

Comparing two documents

File → Compare with File… compares the document you're editing with another Markdown file in the open folder: pick the file by typing part of its name. The diff shows the lines only in the other file (−) and only in yours (+), with unchanged parts collapsed and the changed words within a line marked; your unsaved changes count. You can also right-click a file in the Explorer and choose Compare with Active File. Open opens the other file in a tab.

Crash recovery

While you work, unsaved documents are snapshotted every few seconds to the app data folder. If Markpion or your computer stops unexpectedly, the next start offers to recover those documents. Saved files don't need recovery.

Session restore

By default, Markpion reopens your last folder and files when it starts. Turn this off in Settings → Startup → Reopen last folder and files.

Encodings and line endings

• Files are read and written as UTF-8. A byte-order mark (BOM) is kept if the file had one; the status bar shows UTF-8 or UTF-8 with BOM.
• A file that isn't valid UTF-8 is not opened, so it can't be corrupted by saving it.
• LF and CRLF line endings are preserved per file (shown in the status bar). New files use the setting Line endings for new files (LF by default). To change a file's line endings, click LF or CRLF in the status bar, or run Change Line Endings to LF / CRLF from the command palette: a saved file without other changes is saved at once; otherwise the new line endings are used at the next save. Clicking UTF-8 in the status bar (or Change Encoding to UTF-8 with BOM / to UTF-8) adds or removes the byte order mark the same way; some older Windows tools expect one.

Save options

In Settings → Files:

• Trim trailing whitespace on save. Markdown hard line breaks (two trailing spaces) and code blocks are left alone.
• Insert a final newline on save.
• Keep the table of contents up to date on save (on by default).