Preview Windows
Wherever you open a file from, the preview window in the middle pane follows one set of rules. This page covers what every preview window has in common.
Tabs
- Click any file in the sidebar → it opens as a tab in the middle
- The tab strip scrolls horizontally; each tab carries a file-type icon
- Tabs are remembered on quit and restored next launch; tabs whose file was deleted are pruned
- The same file never opens twice as two tabs
Media keeps playing
Audio and video previews are not unloaded when you switch to another tab — playback continues. Listening to a recording while taking notes works.
The header toolbar
Every preview window has a header toolbar. The shared actions:
| Action | Notes |
|---|---|
| Show in Finder | Reveal the file in Finder |
| Copy filename and absolute path | Copy both to the clipboard |
| Fit width | Fit to width |
| Close preview | Close |
Copying the path looks minor but earns its place — paste it to an agent and it knows exactly which file you mean.
Zoom and position memory
Preview windows remember your zoom level and scroll position, per file. Close a 40-page PDF on page 23 and it reopens on page 23.
Find in page
PDF and web previews support find-in-page with a "current / total" match counter.
Sending a selection to the AI
Select text in a preview window and the right-click menu offers three AI actions:
- Explain Selection
- Translate Selection
- Summarize Selection
Results appear in an overlay.
Output language follows the content
Aside from translation, AI output follows the language of the selected content, not the interface language.
Where types differ
PDF
- Reading mode — normal paging, with highlights and sticky notes
- Thumbnail grid — every page laid out as a thumbnail; click to jump
Highlights and sticky notes are covered in Annotations.
Licensing and markup
Creating and editing annotations requires a valid license. After expiry, existing annotations still display, read, and export — you just can't add or change them.
Web pages (HTML / MHTML)
- Highlightable, same as PDFs
- Toggle interactive mode — controls whether the page's scripts run. Off by default, so the page is static; turn it on when you need the page's interactive components
- Open in default browser
EPUB
Highlightable. Anchoring is based on text selectors, so highlights survive re-importing the same book.
Markdown
Editing / reading modes, with math, diagrams, mind maps, and other fenced blocks. See Writing.
Spreadsheets (CSV / XLSX)
A grid editor; edit cells directly.
Word / PowerPoint
Native rendering, read-only.
Aggregate previews
Select several files in Sources (Cmd / Shift) and open them for an aggregate preview tab — several Refs entries render together in the current citation style, ready to copy as a block.
Aggregate previews are ephemeral and aren't restored on next launch.
The in-app browser
External links in preview windows, and links in terminal output, open in an in-app browser tab rather than jumping to the system browser.
In its toolbar:
| Action | Notes |
|---|---|
| Save page to Sources / Docs | Extract the article body as Markdown into Docs |
| Save bookmark to Sources / Docs | Save just the link |
| Share this page with AI | Give the agent access to what you're reading |
| Open in default browser | Hand off to the system browser |
Login walls on commercial databases
Some commercial literature databases (those behind DataDome, Akamai, and similar) can't be navigated in the in-app browser. That's a structural limitation, not a bug. The way through: sign in with your system browser, then come back to Scholardo with a direct link.
Going deeper
- Annotations — storage, anchoring, export
- In-app Browser — saving pages, sharing with AI, and where the system browser still fits