Previewing Document Contents with Quick Look

Launching applications takes time and resources. Frequently, when we want to open a file, all we really want is to see the contents of the file. Using Lion’s equivalent of X-Ray vision, called Quick Look, we can view many of our documents without the need to open an application.

Viewing a File with Quick Look

Using Quick Look doesn’t require anything more than your mouse and a press of the spacebar.

1. Select a file from the Finder or Desktop by clicking once, but don’t open it!

2. Press the spacebar to open Quick Look.

3. Click the double arrows to expand Quick Look to fullscreen.

4. Some files might show additional controls above the preview or when in fullscreen mode. An image, for example, includes a button to open in the Preview application, or, when in fullscreen mode, add the file to iPhoto.