Standalone files and PDF tools

Typsastra can open supported files without first opening a project. This keeps quick edits and reading tasks available while preserving the richer shared-main preview workflow for multi-file documents.

Standalone Typst and Markdown files

Open a .typ, .md, or .markdown file directly from the system file manager or use File → Open File. Standalone mode keeps the editor and application menu, but hides project-only tools and project chrome. A standalone Typst file with no local includes can use a private single-file preview cache. A document with local dependencies is recommended for promotion to a project so its full file tree can be compiled and synchronized.

Within an open project, supported off-project files can be opened in temporary tabs beside project files. They don't become project dependencies or replace the configured main document.

Markdown receives sanitized live preview with workspace-bound local resources. See Markdown live preview for supported content and security boundaries.

Direct PDF viewing

Open a PDF in Typsastra to use the in-app viewer. The viewer virtualizes rendered pages and provides page navigation, zoom, color modes, document outline when available, internal and external links, and text search.

For text-based PDFs, drag to select logical text and copy it as plain or formatted text. The selection model maps displayed glyphs back to extracted Unicode text, preserves paragraph boundaries and supported formatting, and keeps multi-codepoint complex-script clusters together. Image-only scanned pages do not become searchable text automatically; Typsastra does not perform OCR.

Hold the platform modifier key while hovering over the PDF to reveal link targets. Click an internal PDF link to navigate within the document. PDF text selection and links are separate interactions; a regular drag selects text, while the modifier activates links.

Exporting

Export PDF writes the current compiled output to a user-selected destination. PDF export is separate from the live preview and asks before creating or replacing a user-facing PDF in the project. Export Source ZIP creates a font-free source snapshot; Export Typsastra Project creates a version-bound .typsastra archive with integrity metadata and exact toolchain versions. See Project import and export.

An optional Enhanced Unicode PDF engine can be enabled under Settings → Developer for explicit PDF exports. It is experimental and affects export only; live preview, diagnostics, completion, and source synchronization remain owned by Tinymist. See the engine validation guide for its requirements and known text-extraction limitations.

Large PDF files require explicit confirmation before decoding and rendering. Large Typst files and aggregate previews have a corresponding confirmation before editor initialization or compilation.