Using Plain

Plain is built around a single reading surface and a compact top toolbar.

Open a Page

Use the address bar for both URLs and searches.

• URL-like input opens as a page.
• Non-URL input searches Mojeek.
• Cmd-L focuses the address bar.
• Esc dismisses address-bar focus.

Navigate

Use the back and forward toolbar buttons, keyboard shortcuts, or horizontal swipes.

Use More → Show History or Cmd-Y to return to the start screen and browse recent pages without closing the window.

Plain keeps navigation local to the current window. It does not support tabs.

Images

Plain can load selected non-SVG document images through its own image pipeline. Turn Load with Images off from the More menu before loading a page for true text-only loading.

Fetched images are cached locally in Application Support, capped at 50 MB, and pruned after 30 days. When images are enabled, image hosts can still see an image request from your network.

Later

Later is a small local list of pages you may want to return to.

• Use the bookmark button or Cmd-D to save or remove the current page.
• Use the Later list button or Shift-Cmd-D to open the list.
• Use the back/forward buttons or left/right arrow keys to move between adjacent Later items while reading from Later.
• Search Later from the Start page or the Later popover.
• Add tags to a Later item when you want a small local queue rather than a full account-based library.
• Import or export Later as Markdown from the More menu or Later surfaces.
• Reading progress is saved locally for pages that are in Later.

Later is deliberately small and local. It is not an account, sync service, or read-it-later platform.

Quotes

Use the quote button in the toolbar, the text selection context menu, or Cmd-Option-Q to work with saved passages.

• Select text in a paragraph and choose Save Quote from the context menu.
• Use the quote collection button to choose multiple readable blocks from the current page.
• Open Quotes to search saved passages, copy Markdown, add notes, add tags, open the source page, remove quotes, or export the collection.

Quotes are stored locally. Notes and tags are local too.

Plain News

Use the newspaper toolbar button or More -> Show Plain News to open Plain News.

Plain News lets you add sources from a categorized library, add custom RSS or web sources, choose a time window, add interests, and run a local reading pass. Digest items are grouped by source by default and can switch to time order. Items open in Plain’s reader, and the back button returns to the digest.

Time windows include a rolling 1-30 day range, This Week, and Yesterday. This Week is a calendar-week view; use rolling days if you want a true lookback window.

Plain News uses Apple Foundation Models locally when available and falls back to local heuristic ranking when unavailable. It does not send articles or interests to a remote AI service.

Appearance and Reading Controls

The toolbar includes quick controls for:

• light/dark appearance toggle
• serif/sans reader font toggle
• reader text size cycle
• fullscreen

Reader pages show an estimated read time and progress line.

The More menu also includes system/light/dark appearance options because the toolbar toggle intentionally moves only between light and dark.

Copying

Use the More menu to copy:

• clean text
• Markdown

Plain copies the extracted native document, not the original HTML page.

When a Page Needs More Browser

Use Open in Default Browser for pages that need forms, dashboards, login flows, video apps, or a full JavaScript runtime.

Updates

Plain checks GitHub Releases on startup. If a newer version exists, it shows a small prompt that opens the release page.

Updates are manual. Plain does not silently download or install new versions.