![5 ways to take a Quick Look at a file 5 ways to take a Quick Look at a file Mac tip: 5 ways to take a Quick Look at a file](http://heresthethingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/5-ways-to-take-a-Quick-Look-at-a-file.jpg)
Meet “Quick Look,” a handy, built-in Mac tool that lets you take a quick glance at almost any file or folder without committing to firing up a program.
Meet “Quick Look,” a handy, built-in Mac tool that lets you take a quick glance at almost any file or folder without committing to firing up a program.
Now, there’s not a whole lot you can do while viewing a file with Quick Look besides, well … look at it. In other words, there’s no editing, composing, or tweaking allowed.
But Quick Look makes for an easy way to, say, peruse a contract that’s sitting on your desktop, or to arrange a big folder of photos into an easy-to-scan contact sheet.
Once activated, Quick Look will launch a preview window complete with a pair of arrow buttons for switching back and forth between the various files you selected.
You can also tap the thumbnail button in the top-left corner of the window for a bird’s-eye view of all your Quick Look documents, perfect for browsing a batch of photos.
Last but not least, click the little arrows in the top-right corner of the Quick View window to switch to full-screen view, then click the arrows in the floating control bar to return to normal view.
![Quick Look floating control panel Quick Look floating control panel 300x206 Mac tip: 5 ways to take a Quick Look at a file](http://heresthethingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Quick-Look-floating-control-panel-300x206.jpg)
The
full-screen Quick View mode features a floating panel of buttons that
lets you cycle through a series of files, or see your documents from a
bird’s-eye view.
Well, there are actually five ways:
1. With a right-click
Right-click the file or folder (and yes, you can select multiple documents if you wish), then select “Quick Look” from the pop-up menu.2. With the space bar
Select the files or folders you want to sneak a peek at, then press the space bar (or COMMAND + Y, if you wish).3. With a three-finger tap
Select the files or folders, then tap (but don’t click) your trackpad with three fingertips.4. Using the Quick Look button
![Quick Look button in Finder folder Quick Look button in Finder folder 300x175 Mac tip: 5 ways to take a Quick Look at a file](http://heresthethingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Quick-Look-button-in-Finder-folder-300x175.jpg)
You can click the Quick Look button to preview any selected item inside a folder.
Or, here’s another option: click the Action button (the button with the gear) and select “Quick Look.”