Quick Look
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 Quick Look screenshot |
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| Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
| Initial release | October 26, 2007 (Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard") |
| Operating system | Mac OS X |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | Quick Look |
Quick Look is a quick preview feature developed by Apple which was introduced in their operating system, Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard". It was announced and demonstrated at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2007.
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[edit] Overview
While OS X's Finder has always had icon previews, Quick Look allows users to look at the contents of a file in the Finder at full or near-full size, depending on the size of the document relative to the desktop. It can view files including, but not limited to: PDFs, HTML, QuickTime readable media, ASCII and RTF text documents, Apple Keynote, Pages and Numbers, ODF documents, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files (including OOXML), RAW camera images.
[edit] Activation
To activate Quick Look, select the document and press the space bar (or choose File > Quick Look, Cmd-Y) and the file will be viewable in a separate window. Press space bar again to close, or double-click the window to open the file with its default application.
Quick Look can also be opened in full screen by pressing Opt-Spacebar or Cmd-Opt-Y in the Finder. Press the Escape key (esc) to exit full screen.
[edit] Implementation
Quick Look technology is implemented throughout Mac OS X v10.5+. Some examples are iChat Theater, Time Machine and the Cover Flow view on the Finder.
[edit] Formats not supported by default
There are various file formats not supported by default Quick Look or Cover Flow:
- AI (Adobe Illustrator vector file)
- Animated GIF (multiple frames stored in Graphics Interchange Format) - Only first frame preview displayed
- APNG (Animated Portable Network Graphic) - Only first frame preview displayed
- FLV (Flash Video File)
- JNG (JPEG Network Graphic)
- MKV (Matroska video)
- MNG (Multiple-image Network Graphic)
- OGM (Ogg Media video)
- RM, RMVB (Real Media video files)
- SWF (Shockwave Flash video)
- textClipping (Apple's own unformatted text file) - Support added in 10.6 "Snow Leopard"
- VOB (Video Object, DVD format)
- XML (Extensible Markup Language text file)
Support for additional formats can be achieved via use of 3rd party plug-ins.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Features - Quick Look
- A directory of Quick Look Plugins for Apple’s OS X 10.5 Leopard
- Gloobus, an application based on Quick Look for Linux
