 | |
| Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
|---|---|
| Initial release | October 26, 2007 (Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard) |
| Operating system | macOS |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | Quick Look |
Quick Look is a quick preview feature developed by Apple Inc. which was introduced in its operating system Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The feature was announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Jun. 11, 2007.
While macOS's Finder has always had smaller previews in Get Info windows or column view, Quick Look allows users to look at the contents of a file at full or near-full size in the Finder, depending on the size of the document relative to the screen resolution. It can preview files such as PDFs, HTML, QuickTime readable media, plain text and RTF text documents, iWork (Keynote, Pages, and Numbers) documents, ODF documents, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) files (including OOXML), and RAW camera images.[citation needed] In addition, Quick Look supports viewing multiple files simultaneously by selecting them and using a split view to compare contents side by side, a feature particularly useful for examining differences between documents or images.
Quick Look can also be opened in full screen and launched from the command line. Additionally, multi-page documents like PowerPoint slide shows can be navigated using the slide previews at the side of the preview window. Starting with macOS Mojave, Quick Look has been enhanced with markup tools, allowing users to annotate PDFs and images directly within the Quick Look interface without opening a separate application.
Quick Look technology is implemented throughout the Apple suite of software starting with Mac OS X 10.5, including iChat Theater, Time Machine, and Finder's Cover Flow. The integration with Time Machine allows users to preview versions of files within the backup system, making it easier to find specific versions before restoring them.
Quick Look APIs are available to developers via the Quick Look framework on iOS[1] and as part of the Quartz framework on the Mac.[2] Developers can customize Quick Look to support additional file types in their applications, expanding the utility of this feature across various software ecosystems.