I had to borrow and work entirely from my partner’s Mac Mini for two weeks when my Windows laptop had to be sent to the service centre for a motherboard-related issue. After two weeks, while I still prefer my Windows laptop over macOS, there were two features that I wished Windows had: Quick Look and Spotlight.
I use Raycast for a Spotlight-like feature on Windows, though there are other alternatives like PowerToys Run and Flow Launcher. To get quick previews, I installed QuickLook, an open-source third-party preview tool that lets you quickly preview documents and images by pressing the spacebar. But it’s more than just a dumb preview tool.
Easy macOS-like preview
Press the spacebar and preview any file instantly
I work with Markdown files and images all day long. So, I need a way to quickly preview Markdown files for reference without opening them in their dedicated editor. The same goes for images. Having to open and close the Photos app feels…less intuitive, when I’m not actively editing anything. This is where a file preview app comes in handy. Select a file, hit the Spacebar, and it opens a preview window that lets you view the image in full size or quickly glance over a document to find what you need.
QuickLook does exactly this. You can grab it from the Microsoft Store or download the MSI installer from its GitHub page. Now, select any file in File Explorer or on your desktop, press the spacebar, and a preview window pops up instantly. Press spacebar again or hit Escape to close it.
While the preview window is open, you can use the arrow keys to move to the next or previous file without closing anything. This saves a lot of time when you’re going through a folder of screenshots or documents looking for that one specific file. Additionally, hold the spacebar instead of pressing it once, and the preview stays open only while the key is pressed.
QuickLook supports a large variety of file types out of the box, including images, videos, PDFs, text files, and even archives. The preview window uses a modern Fluent design that fits right in with Windows 11, and it supports HiDPI displays if you’re on a high-resolution monitor.
Tons of plugins
Brings additional file format support
The built-in file format support is solid, but what makes QuickLook truly versatile is its plugin system. You can extend the app to preview file formats it doesn’t support out of the box. The plugin page on GitHub has a growing list of options, and installing them is as simple as downloading and dropping the files into the right folder.
Some plugins that I’ve come to find useful in the last few months of using the app include OfficeViewer, which lets you preview Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files without having Microsoft Office installed. QLMarkdown renders Markdown files properly instead of showing raw text, which is great if you write documentation or notes in Markdown. QLVideo adds support for a wider range of video formats, and Zip-QL lets you peek inside archives without extracting them first.
There are also plugins for more niche use cases. QuickLook-csv displays CSV files in a proper table format, QLStephen handles unrecognized text files, and there are even plugins for CAD formats like .dwg and .dxf. If you work with a specific file type that QuickLook doesn’t recognize, chances are there’s a plugin for it.
QuickLook alternatives
Other ways to preview files on Windows
Before installing a third-party app, you might want to try what’s already available. File Explorer has a built-in Preview Pane that you can enable from the View menu. It shows image previews and supports some text documents. However, it’s limited by format support and takes up permanent screen space in your File Explorer window. It’s fine for occasional use, but not ideal if you preview files constantly.
Microsoft PowerToys also includes a File Explorer add-on, Peek, with enhanced preview capabilities. It adds support for SVG files, Markdown, and PDF thumbnails directly in the Preview Pane. If you already have PowerToys installed for other utilities, this is a handy addition. But it still works within the Preview Pane’s limitations and doesn’t offer the flexibility or plugin support that QuickLook provides.
If you need something more powerful and don’t mind paying, Seer Pro is worth considering. It’s a premium app that handles massive files without breaking a sweat. It can preview multi-GB text files, very large archives, and PDFs with tens of thousands of pages. It also lets you copy text, images, and even video frames directly from the preview window. The app has light and dark themes, supports customization through scripting, and is actively maintained.
Though in my brief time with Seer, it kept closing after previewing a few files. That might be because I was using the trial version, which kept bugging me to purchase a license without offering a fair chance to try it out.
QuickLook brings macOS-like previews to Windows
Like many of us, I was okay with the basic Preview Pane in File Explorer for a long time. But once you need to preview multiple files every day, its limitations become obvious. The fixed sidebar, limited format support, and lack of keyboard shortcuts make it feel outdated compared to what macOS offers.
QuickLook fills that gap rather nicely. It’s free, open-source, and does one thing well. The spacebar shortcut is easier to get used to, and the plugin support means it can handle almost any file type you throw at it. For anyone who’s been envious of macOS features, this is one you can bring to Windows without much effort.
