How to review live changes with Timewarp in Mardo
Timewarp lets you move through the versions a Markdown file reached while it was open. It works with Follow Live Edits, so saves made by another tool appear in Mardo without replacing your unsaved work.
Open Timewarp
Press Command-Y, choose View → Show Timewarp, or use the Timewarp item in the titlebar. The row opens without moving your document.
The row reads from left to right:
The left and right arrows move between file states.
The tape shows blue dots for recent recorded saves. The empty endpoint at the right is Live.
The text beside the tape names the selected state.
The up and down arrows move between highlighted revisions in that state.
The selection ring shows where you are. A past state is read-only; moving forward to the empty Live endpoint returns to the editable document. Pressing Escape returns to Live and closes the row. Pressing Command-Y again does the same thing.
Understand Live and your unsaved work
Live is the document as it exists now, including both the newest accepted disk version and your unsaved typing. When you have unsaved work, the row says Live · evolving · N revisions and keeps those revisions highlighted while you type. They are not another saved state and do not create another dot.
Each blue dot is a version that actually reached disk: either a save from Mardo or a save that Follow Live Edits accepted from another tool. New saves continue to add dots even while you are looking at the past.
Read the highlights
Timewarp and Follow Live Edits use the same cool periwinkle wash. In a past state, the held wash marks the changed regions. Moving between states briefly strengthens the wash so additions, replacements, and changes made only of blank lines still have visible geometry. The document does not scroll merely to reveal an offscreen change.
Use Command-Left Arrow and Command-Right Arrow to move through states. Use Command-Up Arrow and Command-Down Arrow to move through the changed regions in the selected state. These shortcuts belong to Timewarp only while its row is open.
Resolve a conflicting live edit
When your unsaved revision and an incoming save change the same text, Mardo keeps your current text in place and adds a small Conflict control. Select it to compare Ours with On Disk side by side. The comparison opens as rendered Markdown and highlights only the part that differs; use the small Source control to see the exact Markdown instead. Mardo remembers that choice for the next conflict.
Choose Keep Ours, Use Disk, or Edit Manually. Manual editing leaves the conflict open until you confirm the edited result with Keep Ours. Save remains unavailable until every conflict has an explicit decision.
What Timewarp keeps
Timewarp lets you navigate the newest twelve historical states. If the state you are viewing ages outside that window, it stays on screen with a broken line separating its dot from recent history. Incoming saves never push you out of it. Moving right jumps to the oldest recent state; once you leave the held state, it is no longer accessible. The original-file endpoint follows the same limit.
The private history needed to display a held older state remains until you leave it. Timewarp writes no history file and keeps nothing after the window closes. It is a short-lived view of saves that happened while you worked, not version control, autosave, or a replacement for Git.
Timewarp requires a saved file on storage where Mardo can keep stable snapshots and requires Follow Live Edits to be available. When it cannot run, its menu item and titlebar menu explain why.
Current as of September 11, 2026.