How to uninstall Markdown Preview on Mac

Markdown Preview is a free, MIT-licensed Mac app that renders .md files, with a bundled Quick Look extension, from markdownpreview.app and its GitHub project. Its bundle ID is doc.md-preview. It reads your Markdown files where they are and does not keep copies, so removing the app does not touch them. Two things are worth doing first: if you used Share as Link, the shared copy stays online for 7 days unless you stop it, and if you installed its command line launchers, they stay in your shell path after the app is gone. This guide covers the disk image from the project's GitHub release and the Homebrew cask markdown-preview.

Stop sharing, quit and remove the app

1. In Markdown Preview, open each document you shared and choose File › Manage Shared Document… to stop sharing. Per the project's README, a link otherwise lasts 7 days.
2. Quit Markdown Preview with Command + Q.
3. Open Finder, go to Applications and drag Markdown Preview to the Trash. The Quick Look extension is inside the app and goes with it.
4. If you used the app menu's Install CLI command, remove the launchers it created. The changelog names them mdp, md-preview and markdown-preview but not the folder, so find them with the check below and delete only a link that points into Markdown Preview.app.

The app registered no login item or launch agent in the test.

Where the data lives

Press Shift + Command + G in Finder to open each path. Skip any path that is not on your Mac. The app is sandboxed, so most of what it keeps is in containers.

Check the result

pgrep -il 'markdown preview'
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Containers/doc.md-preview" "$HOME/Library/Containers/doc.md-preview.quick-look" "$HOME/Library/Group Containers/5P3TSMNV42.doc.md-preview"
command -v mdp md-preview markdown-preview
ls -l "$(command -v mdp)"

• No output from pgrep means the app is not running. A printed line is a process still alive; quit it.
• A path printed by ls -d still exists. No such file or directory means it is gone. The two containers are the ones most likely to survive, see the test record below.
• No output from command -v means no launcher is on your path. A printed path is a launcher; ls -l shows where it points. If it points into Markdown Preview.app, remove the link and nothing else.

If a container survives, quit the app first. In Finder press Shift + Command + G, open ~/Library/Containers, and drag the folder to the Trash. macOS can refuse to move sandboxed data; if it does, give Mole Full Disk Access in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access and let it move the row, or remove the folder yourself later.

If you installed it with Homebrew

brew uninstall --cask markdown-preview

The cask quits the app, removes it and removes the mdp link it created. Its zap list deletes the three Application Scripts folders, both containers, the group container, ~/Library/Caches/doc.md-preview, ~/Library/HTTPStorages/doc.md-preview, ~/Library/Preferences/doc.md-preview.plist and the Recent Items file. None of it holds your Markdown files. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap markdown-preview does not read Mole's checkboxes. Every zap path is inside ~/Library, but Mole adds --zap only when its whole removal scope passes its zap gate: a path the scan never listed, an unchecked row, a path outside the reviewed boundary or one that another installed app claims keeps it off, and Mole then removes the rows you selected itself.

Account and subscription

The app needs no account. A document you shared with Share as Link is uploaded encrypted to md-preview.app; stopping the share, as in the first step, is what ends it. Removing the app does not.

What Mole lists

Mole selects the app, both Application Scripts folders and both containers named after the bundle ID, and the temporary cache row. It lists the group container and the team-prefixed Application Scripts folder for review and selects them by default, since both are named after the app's own bundle ID. Before removing, Mole asks the app to quit. Mole does not look for the command line launchers. A container needs Full Disk Access to move; without it Mole's report asks for the permission.

What this test covered

On November 9, 2026, the test downloaded the Markdown Preview 0.0.71 disk image (Universal) from the project's GitHub release, whose checksum matched the Homebrew cask, copied the app to Applications without running brew install, launched it once, quit it and removed it with a source-built Mole with every review row ticked. Mole moved the app, the Application Scripts folders and the temporary cache row to the Trash. Both containers stayed because the test build ran without Full Disk Access; macOS refused the move. In the first run the group container waited on macOS's "access data from other apps" prompt and ended with no result; in a repeat run after the prompt was answered, Mole moved it. The Recent Items file was not listed and was left in place. Status showed one Markdown Preview row with 4 processes, and Mole detected a Sparkle feed for the app; no update was run. Share as Link, the command line launchers, the Quick Look preview after removal, the Homebrew uninstall and Mole's notarized release build were not tested.