Read, highlight, and make notes on your own files.
A free reader for Markdown documents and Fountain screenplays, for Mac and Linux.
Bindars 1.6.1 on Linux. Select to enlarge.
Free and open source
MIT licensed. No trial, no subscription, no paid tier.
No account
Install it, open a file, read.
No telemetry
And no update check.
Notes stay separate
Highlights and notes are kept apart from the document.
Highlight it, add a note, find it again
Highlights and notes work the way they do in an e-reader, on files you already have.
Select a passage
Pick one of four colors: yellow, green, blue or pink. Or choose Note.
Write down why
Every highlight and note is listed in Highlights & notes (Ctrl+Shift+M or ⇧⌘M), with your bookmarks.
Take them with you
Export saves them as a Markdown file: each highlight as a quote, with its color and your note beneath it.
Renamed a file outside Bindars? Find Notes… reconnects them.
For screenwriters: the notes pass
Read your Fountain draft in script layout, highlight what isn't working, and export the list to keep beside whatever you write in.
- Who talks most?
- Words of dialogue and speaking time for every character.
- How long does it run?
- Page and runtime estimates for the whole script: 160 words a page, a minute a page.
- Where does one character go?
- Choose a name in Contents to fade everything else.
- Where are we?
- Scene lens lists every scene with its estimated length, tagged INT, EXT or INT/EXT where the heading says so.
Pick up where you left off
Bindars reopens the document you were reading, at its section. Home lists your recent documents, and Continue at takes you straight back.
- Add one folder of your own to the sidebar, beside Recent and Drafts.
- Search documents (Ctrl+K or ⌘K) finds words and phrases across them and opens the passage.
- Contents shows which documents link to this one, or mention its title.
Technical documents too
READMEs, specs and notes appear formatted, not as raw symbols.
- Tables, task lists, footnotes and strikethrough, as on GitHub
- Math with KaTeX, and Mermaid diagrams drawn in place
- Code colored by language, with a Copy button
- When the file changes on disk, the page you're reading updates
Read your way
Four themes and six reading fonts, including Atkinson Hyperlegible Next and OpenDyslexic. Set the size, width, line height and spacing.
The same essay and highlights in each theme. Focus mode hides everything but the page. Ctrl+? lists every shortcut, or Help › Keyboard Shortcuts on a Mac.
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Bindars is open source under the MIT license. There's no account, no trial and no paid tier.
Which files does it open?
Markdown (.md, .markdown) and Fountain screenplays (.fountain). It doesn't open Word or PDF files.
Will Bindars change my files?
Reading and highlighting leave the file alone. Edit mode saves as you go on supported drives; on exFAT, FAT32 and some network shares, use Save As with a new filename or a different drive. Highlights, notes and bookmarks are kept in Bindars' own folder on your computer, not in the document.
Does Bindars connect to the internet?
Bindars has no update check or telemetry. Its content security policy blocks web content connections. Web links you click open in your browser. On a Mac, the print dialog may ask for Local Network access to find printers.
How do I get updates?
Bindars never checks for them. Follow the releases feed or watch the repository on GitHub. Before upgrading on a Mac, back up your documents and Bindars data. Then quit Bindars and replace it in Applications with the copy from the new disk image; on Linux, install the new .deb the same way.
Which Linux systems does it run on?
x86_64 systems that install Debian packages. Every release is installed and launched on Ubuntu 22.04 before it's published; Debian 12 or newer and current Linux Mint are expected to work. There's no AppImage, Flatpak or Arch package yet, but you can build it from source.
Is there a Mac version?
Yes, for Macs with Apple Silicon and macOS 15 or later. There's no Intel build. The Mac app is signed with Developer ID and notarized by Apple. The release notes say what has been tested on the Mac so far, and list the known limitations.
Is there a Windows version?
Not yet. Windows builds are on hold while testing on Windows and code signing are pending.
Is there a phone or tablet version?
No. Bindars runs on Mac and Linux computers.
Can I print, or save a PDF?
Print to PDF opens your system's print dialog. On a Mac, the print dialog may ask for Local Network access to find printers. Printing on Linux has not been verified, so check long tables before you rely on it.
Does it work with an Obsidian vault?
A vault is a folder of Markdown files, so you can add it in Folders and read it. Obsidian's [[wiki links]] show as plain text.
Get Bindars
Mac
Download for MacApple Silicon · macOS 15 or later · No Intel build
Open the disk image (8.7 MB), drag Bindars into Applications, then open Bindars from Applications. It's signed with Developer ID and notarized by Apple. macOS may ask you to confirm opening an app downloaded from the internet.
The release notes list what has been tested on the Mac so far, and the known limitations.
Check the download
Save SHA256SUMS-macos.txt in the same folder as the disk image. In Terminal, go to that folder, then run:
shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS-macos.txtLinux
Download for Linux (.deb)x86_64 · Ubuntu, Debian and Linux Mint
Tested on Ubuntu 22.04; Debian 12 or newer and current Linux Mint should work. Install the package (8.4 MB) from the folder you saved it in:
sudo apt install ./Check the download, or remove Bindars
Save SHA256SUMS beside it, then:
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missingTo remove it:
sudo apt remove bindarsWindows
On hold while testing on Windows and code signing are pending. Follow the releases feed for news.
Other Linux
Fedora, Arch and others can build from source (Node 20.19+, Rust 1.88+). Those builds aren't official releases.