diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a1ccf587e..2ee4220b5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -89,7 +89,8 @@ Parameter descriptions:
   -l, --language=<language>
                         Select the language of the submissions (default: java). See subcommands below.
   -M, --mode=<{RUN, VIEW, RUN_AND_VIEW}>
-                        The mode of JPlag: either only run analysis, only open the viewer, or do both (default: null)
+                          The mode of JPlag. If VIEW is chosen, you can specify a result file to display with either the positional argument, '--new', '--old' or '-r'. Make
+                            sure to only specify one if you do that. One of: RUN, VIEW, RUN_AND_VIEW (default: null)
   -n, --shown-comparisons=<shownComparisons>
                         The maximum number of comparisons that will be shown in the generated report, if set to -1 all comparisons will be shown (default: 500)
       -new, --new=<newDirectories>[,<newDirectories>...]
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/CLI.java b/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/CLI.java
index 263a9021e..af68bd3fd 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/CLI.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/CLI.java
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ public void executeCli() throws ExitException, IOException {
 
             switch (this.inputHandler.getCliOptions().mode) {
                 case RUN -> runJPlag();
-                case VIEW -> runViewer(null);
+                case VIEW -> runViewer(this.inputHandler.getFileForViewMode());
                 case RUN_AND_VIEW -> runViewer(runJPlag());
             }
         }
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/options/CliOptions.java b/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/options/CliOptions.java
index 748a8f6c8..f984aa2a2 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/options/CliOptions.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/options/CliOptions.java
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ public class CliOptions implements Runnable {
             "--result-file"}, description = "Name of the file in which the comparison results will be stored (default: ${DEFAULT-VALUE}). Missing .zip endings will be automatically added.")
     public String resultFile = "results";
 
-    @Option(names = {"-M", "--mode"}, description = "The mode of JPlag. One of: ${COMPLETION-CANDIDATES} (default: ${DEFAULT_VALUE})")
+    @Option(names = {"-M",
+            "--mode"}, description = "The mode of JPlag. If VIEW is chosen, you can specify a result file to display with either the positional argument, '--new', '--old' or '-r'. Make sure to only specify one if you do that. One of: ${COMPLETION-CANDIDATES} (default: ${DEFAULT_VALUE})")
     public JPlagMode mode = JPlagMode.RUN_AND_VIEW;
 
     @Option(names = {"--normalize"}, description = "Activate the normalization of tokens. Supported for languages: Java, C++.")
diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/picocli/CliInputHandler.java b/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/picocli/CliInputHandler.java
index 4bc388a35..04998bbd8 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/picocli/CliInputHandler.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/de/jplag/cli/picocli/CliInputHandler.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.security.SecureRandom;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@
 public class CliInputHandler {
     private static final String OPTION_LIST_HEADING = "Parameter descriptions: ";
 
+    private static final String AMBIGUOUS_VIEW_FILE = "There are multiple files selected for '--mode VIEW', Please make sure to only specify one.";
     private static final String UNKNOWN_LANGUAGE_EXCEPTION = "Language %s does not exists. Available languages are: %s";
     private static final String IMPOSSIBLE_EXCEPTION = "This should not have happened."
             + " Please create an issue on github (https://github.com/jplag/JPlag/issues) with the entire output.";
@@ -169,4 +171,26 @@ private String generateDescription() {
         var randomDescription = DESCRIPTIONS[RANDOM.nextInt(DESCRIPTIONS.length)];
         return String.format(DESCRIPTION_PATTERN, randomDescription, CREDITS);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the file to display when using --move VIEW. The result can be null, if no file was selected
+     * @return The file to show
+     * @throws CliException If multiple options would be valid
+     */
+    public File getFileForViewMode() throws CliException {
+        List<File> validOptions = new ArrayList<>(List.of(this.options.rootDirectory));
+
+        validOptions.addAll(List.of(this.options.newDirectories));
+        validOptions.addAll(List.of(this.options.oldDirectories));
+
+        if (this.parseResult.hasMatchedOption('r')) {
+            validOptions.add(new File(this.options.resultFile));
+        }
+
+        return switch (validOptions.size()) {
+            case 0 -> null;
+            case 1 -> validOptions.getFirst();
+            default -> throw new CliException(AMBIGUOUS_VIEW_FILE);
+        };
+    }
 }