GitHub · Pull requests · Viewed files · Checked October 27, 2026

GitHub: a pull request file is no longer marked Viewed

After you finish reviewing a file on the Files changed tab, you can mark it as viewed, and the file collapses. If the file changes after you view it, it is unmarked as viewed (GitHub's reviewing proposed changes in a pull request, checked October 27, 2026). So a push that changes a file you already viewed brings it back unmarked.

Files changed > Viewed      the file collapses
the file changes later      unmarked as viewed
viewerViewedState           VIEWED | UNVIEWED | DISMISSED
markFileAsViewed            pullRequestId, path
unmarkFileAsViewed          pullRequestId, path

What the mark is

Yours: in the GraphQL API, each file changed in a pull request has viewerViewedState, the state of the file for the viewer (GitHub's PullRequestChangedFile).
Three states: VIEWED, the file has been marked as viewed; UNVIEWED, it has not; DISMISSED, the file has new changes since last viewed (GitHub's FileViewedState).
Progress: the progress bar in the pull request header shows how many files you have viewed.

What to do

Review it again: the file is back because it changed after you viewed it. Look at it again, then select Viewed on the right of the file header to mark it.
Narrow the list: on Files changed, filter the files, or use the file tree to go to a specific file.
Mark or unmark from the API: markFileAsViewed takes the Node ID of the pull request as pullRequestId and the path of the file; unmarkFileAsViewed takes the same two (GitHub's markFileAsViewed and unmarkFileAsViewed).
Find the changed files from the API: read viewerViewedState on the files of the pull request; DISMISSED marks the ones that changed since you viewed them.

In IntelliJ IDEA: the mark is GitHub's, and only VIEWED counts

How the GitHub support built into IntelliJ IDEA reads and changes the Viewed mark, in its source (checked October 31, 2026; IntelliJ IDEA: pullRequestFiles.graphql, GHPRFilesServiceImpl.kt, GHPullRequestChangedFile.kt, GHPRChangeListViewModel.kt, GHPRViewedStateToggleAction.kt, GHPRViewedStateDataProviderImpl.kt, markFileAsViewed.graphql, unmarkFileAsViewed.graphql, CollaborationToolsBundle.properties):

Where the mark comes from: GitHub. It reads the pull request's files with viewerViewedState through GraphQL, 100 files a page. A file counts as viewed only when the state is VIEWED: DISMISSED, which GitHub sets when the file changed after you viewed it, counts as not viewed, as UNVIEWED does. So a file GitHub unmarked after a push is not viewed in the IDE either.
Where you can change it: Mark as Viewed and Mark as Not Viewed (Mark All as Viewed and Mark All as Not Viewed for several files) on the files of the whole pull request. The file list of a single commit has no Viewed mark, because, as the source notes, the mark describes a file as a whole. In an open file or diff: Mark File as Viewed and Mark File as Not Viewed.
What it sends: GraphQL markFileAsViewed or unmarkFileAsViewed with the pull request's id and the file's path, one request per file, all at once. The new mark shows at once. If a request fails, the source passes no error on (handling it is marked as still to do): it writes the error to the IDE's log and loads the marks from GitHub again, so the files show GitHub's state.

GitHub pull requests in IntelliJ IDEA

Pull Request Inbox for GitHub, a plugin by Lesstep for JetBrains IDEs 2024.1 or later, shows a pull request's reviews, checks and conversations next to the diff, and merges it with the methods the target branch allows. It keeps its own viewed marks in the IDE: GitHub's Viewed boxes are not read or changed. A mark is made at the head commit; after a push it stays on the files the push did not touch, and a file the push changed loses its mark, much as on GitHub. When GitHub does not say which files a push changed (more than 300 files, or the earlier commit is gone after a force push), the marks on that pull request are cleared, and the Files tab says so. The review inbox, diffs and conversations are free; approving, commenting, resolving and merging are Pro (US$1.50 a month, with a 30-day trial).

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