When browsing through files in the macOS Finder, you often need to check the contents of a document, image, or video before deciding whether to open it. Double-clicking each file launches the full application (Preview, Pages, Photoshop, etc.), which takes several seconds and clutters your Dock with unnecessary running apps.
macOS provides a much faster alternative called Quick Look. By simply pressing the Spacebar, you can instantly preview the full contents of virtually any file directly within the Finder window, without opening any application at all.
How to Use Quick Look
Quick Look is remarkably simple to activate.
- Open a Finder window and navigate to any folder containing your files.
- Click once on any file to select it (do not double-click).
- Press the Spacebar on your keyboard.
A large preview window will instantly appear in the centre of your screen, displaying the full contents of the file. Depending on the file type, you will see:
- Images: A full-resolution preview of the photo.
- Videos: A playable video with standard playback controls (play, pause, scrub).
- PDFs: A scrollable, multi-page document viewer.
- Text documents: A readable preview of Word, Pages, or plain text files.
- Spreadsheets: A preview of Excel or Numbers data.
- Audio files: A playable audio preview with a waveform.
Press the Spacebar again (or press Esc) to close the preview instantly.
How to Browse Multiple Files
You do not need to close and reopen Quick Look for every individual file. While the preview window is open, simply press the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to cycle through other files in the same folder. The preview will update in real-time.
To preview multiple specific files simultaneously:
- Hold down the Command key and click on several files to select them.
- Press the Spacebar.
- Use the forward and backward arrows that appear in the Quick Look window to cycle through only your selected files.
How to Open a Full-Screen Preview
If you want to examine a photo or document in detail without opening the full application, you can expand the Quick Look preview to fill your entire screen.
- While the Quick Look window is open, hold down the Option key and press the Spacebar. The preview will expand to full screen.
- Press the Spacebar again (or Esc) to exit full screen.
Alternatively, click the two diagonal arrows in the top-left corner of the Quick Look window to toggle full screen.
Quick Look Editing Features
Quick Look is not purely a viewer. For images and PDFs, Apple has added basic editing tools directly into the preview window.
While previewing an image or a PDF, look for the Markup icon (a pencil tip inside a circle) in the toolbar at the top of the Quick Look window. Clicking it reveals annotation tools including a pencil, text insertion, shapes, signatures, and a crop tool. You can make quick edits and save them without ever opening a full application.