How do I open a file in One Clear Reader?

What can One Clear Reader open?

One Clear Reader opens seven kinds of file. Markdown opens as a formatted page you can also edit. The others open as clean, readable pages. This table shows what you get for each file type.

Image files (.png, .jpg) don't open on their own. Pictures inside a Markdown file do show, as long as they sit in the same folder as the file or a folder below it.

How do I open a file my AI just made in One Clear Reader?

To open a file your AI just made, look at Latest from your AI on the One Clear Reader welcome screen. It lists documents in your home folder changed in the last 24 hours, newest first.

1. Click the logo button at the top left to go to the welcome screen.
2. Find Latest from your AI. Each card shows the file type, name, folder and how long ago it changed.
3. Click a card to open it. If there are more than 8, click Show all to see up to 24.

Latest from your AI lists Markdown, text, Word, web page and CSV files. It also looks in two places normal Mac search skips: Claude Code's plans folder (~/.claude/plans, where ~ means your home folder) and the temporary folder (/tmp).

Don't want the list? Click Hide. To bring it back, press ⌘K and choose Show latest files on the welcome screen.

How do I open a file from a path in One Clear Reader?

To open a file from a path in One Clear Reader, press ⌘L and paste the path. You don't need to tidy it up first.

1. Press ⌘L. This jumps to the path box in the toolbar ("Open a file by name or path"). On the welcome screen, the big Open a document box works the same way.
2. Press ⌘V to paste, then Return.

One Clear Reader cleans the path for you. Quotes, curly quotes, backticks, a Markdown link around it, file:// at the start, ~/ for your home folder, and a line number on the end like :142 or #L142 are all fine. It even pulls a path out of a sentence like "Saved to ~/Documents/plan.md".

A faster way: copy the path in your AI chat, then press ⌥⌘V (File › Open Document from Clipboard). The file opens straight away, no pasting needed.

messy paths welcome. the app tidies them.

If the path starts with /mnt/ or /home/, it lives on the AI's computer, not yours. Download the file from the chat first. Where AI tools save files on your Mac explains which paths are real.

Web links (https://…) won't open. The box is for files on your Mac.

How do I find a file in One Clear Reader by part of its name?

To find a file by part of its name, type the part you remember in the One Clear Reader path box and press Return.

1. Press ⌘L and type a word from the name, like launch for launch-plan.md.
2. Press Return. A list appears with File names first, then Inside documents for files that contain your words.
3. Click the one you want. If you picked a match from inside a document, the app runs Find for your words so you land on them.

Search uses Spotlight across your home folder and iCloud Drive, and shows up to 50 results. Web pages and CSV files are matched by name only. Spotlight doesn't index /tmp or hidden folders, so for those use Latest from your AI or paste the full path.

When you have tabs open, the list has two buttons at the top: Everywhere and In open tabs. Choose In open tabs to look only at files you already have open.

How do I open a whole folder in One Clear Reader?

One Clear Reader opens a whole folder as tabs, which is handy when an AI writes several files into one project folder.

1. Press ⇧⌘O (File › Open Folder as Tabs…), or click Choose a folder (up to 10) on the welcome screen.
2. Pick the folder. You see its documents with the newest ticked for you. Files over 5 MB are flagged and left unticked.
3. Tick Include subfolders to look up to three folders down. Hidden, package and build folders are skipped.
4. Click Open N as tabs.

The folder's name sits in the tab row before its tabs, with × to close them all at once.

Free keeps 3 tabs open and Pro keeps 10, which is why the welcome button says "up to 10". On Free, opening a fourth document closes the oldest tab.

What's on the One Clear Reader welcome screen?

The One Clear Reader welcome screen has the Open a document box, Latest from your AI and these buttons:

• Choose a file opens the Mac file picker (same as ⌘O).
• Choose a folder (up to 10) opens a folder as tabs, as above.
• Open latest document opens the newest supported file in your Documents folder.
• Make this my default .md reader makes .md files open here when you double-click them.
• Take the 30-second tour walks you through the app on a sample page.

The tour button hides once you've taken it. Run it again from Help › Take the 30-Second Tour.

What does the One Clear Reader 30-second tour show?

The One Clear Reader 30-second tour opens a sample page and points at six things, one at a time:

1. The path box, where you paste a path or type half a name.
2. Aa, for text size, page width, light or dark, and reading profiles.
3. The zoom button, which makes the whole page bigger or smaller.
4. Review, for leaving notes and sending them back to your AI.
5. Edit, for changing the file yourself.
6. ⌘K, the command palette, which finds any command, heading or theme.

The sample page isn't a real file, so saving and exporting are off. Everything else works.

How do I make .md files open in One Clear Reader on double-click?

To make .md files open in One Clear Reader when you double-click them, click Make this my default .md reader on the welcome screen. From then on, double-clicking a .md file opens it in One Clear Reader.

For .txt, .csv and .tsv files too, press ⌘K and choose Open .txt and .csv files in One Clear Reader.

If macOS refuses the change, do it in Finder: select a file, press ⌘I, pick One Clear Reader under Open with, then click Change All. Changing the default app for .md files has pictures of each step.

What does the One Clear Reader menu bar icon do?

The One Clear Reader menu bar icon gives you the app from anywhere, even with no window open. Closing the window doesn't quit One Clear Reader, so the icon stays in the menu bar.

Click it for:

• Open Document from Clipboard
• Paste or Find a Path…
• Choose a Document…
• Choose a Folder of Documents…
• Recent Documents, your last 8 files
• Show One Clear Reader and Quit One Clear Reader

What does One Clear Reader do when my AI changes the file?

When your AI changes the open file, One Clear Reader updates the page by itself and keeps your place. The badge in the toolbar says "Watching for changes", then "Updated just now" after a change. If the file is moved or deleted, the app tells you "The open file moved".

To see exactly what changed, read Review with AI.

Questions people ask