You probably know that there is a built-in file preview feature in Windows 10 File Explorer. To preview or to see the content of a file without opening it with a program, you need to enable the preview pane using the Alt + P hotkey and then select a supported a file in File Explorer to view to preview the file in the preview pane.
The built-in file preview is a wonderful feature and can save your precious time, especially when you are not using the thumbnail view in File Explorer.
The only problem with the built-in file preview feature is that it takes considerable amount of screen space. Although you can quickly turn on or off the preview pane using Alt + P hotkey, enabling the preview pane just to preview a file doesn’t make sense. Would not it be good if we could preview files in File Explorer without actually enabling the preview pane?
QuickLook app to quickly preview files in Windows 10
QuickLook is a free app available on Windows Store to preview files in Windows 10 File Explorer quickly. The main difference between QuickLook and built-in File Explorer preview feature is that QuickLook doesn’t add or require a dedicated preview pane.
To preview document or picture, you just need to select the file and then press the Spacebar key on the keyboard. The file preview will appear on the screen. To close the preview, simply press the spacebar key again or press Esc key.
Preview audio, video and picture in Windows 10
QuickLook app supports several file types, including popular image, document, audio and video formats.
After installing the QuickLook app from the Store, you just need to run the QuickLook app to be able to preview files in File Explorer.
As you can see in pictures, when you are previewing a file, you can open the file with its associated app or program. For instance, if you are previewing an image file and the default image viewer is Photos app, the QuickLook shows Open with Photos option at the top-right of the preview. Alternatively, if you love doing that with your keyboard, simply press the Enter key when previewing a file to close the preview and open the file with the default app.
With default settings, QuickLook loads with Windows 10, but you can change that by right-clicking on QuickLook icon in the system tray and then clicking Run at startup option.
Visit the following Windows Store link to install the QuickLook app on your Windows 10 PC.
Download QuickLook (Windows Store link)
