GitHub - QL-Win/QuickLook: Bring macOS “Quick Look” feature to Windows

💡 The Problem

Ever wished Windows had macOS's Quick Look?

You know the drill: you want to peek at a file, so you double-click, wait for an app to launch, view the file, close the app... exhausting, right?

macOS users? They just press Space. Instant preview. Any file.

Now Windows has it too. 🎉

QuickLook brings that buttery-smooth, instant-preview experience to Windows. No more waiting. No more opening heavy applications just to peek at a document.

WITHOUT QuickLook:
┌─────────────────┐
│ 1. Double click │
│ 2. Wait...      │
│ 3. App loads    │
│ 4. View file    │
│ 5. Close app    │
└─────────────────┘
   ⏱️ ~10 seconds

WITH QuickLook:
┌─────────────────┐
│ 1. Press SPACE  │
│ 2. Done! ✨     │
└─────────────────┘
   ⚡ ~0.2 seconds

🚀 Superpowers

What Makes QuickLook Extraordinary

⚡️ Lightning Speed

Instant previews with zero lag

Native performance that feels like magic

Hardware-accelerated rendering

🎨 Gorgeous Design

Fluent Design System integration

Beautiful on 4K displays

Touch-optimized interface

🌈 100+ Formats

Images, videos, documents, code

3D models, archives, fonts

Extensible with plugins

📸 Visual Files

🖼️ Images (JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, RAW)
🎬 Videos (MP4, AVI, MKV, MOV)
🎨 Photoshop (PSD), Illustrator (AI)
📐 3D Models (OBJ, STL, FBX)
🎭 Animated GIFs & APNGs

📄 Documents

📝 PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint
📋 Text files with syntax highlighting
📊 Markdown with live rendering
📜 E-books (EPUB, MOBI)
📑 Comics (CBZ, CBR)

💻 Developer Files

🐍 Python, JavaScript, C++, Rust
🌐 HTML, CSS, JSON, XML
⚙️ Config files (YAML, TOML, INI)
📦 Archives (ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR)
🔧 Binary files with hex view

🎵 Media

🎵 Audio (MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC)
🎼 Sheet music
🎨 Fonts (TTF, OTF, WOFF)
🖌️ Vector graphics (SVG, EPS)
📹 Subtitles (SRT, ASS)

🎯 Works Everywhere

File Explorer

Native integration

Open/Save Dialogs

System-wide support

3rd Party Managers

Total Commander, xplorer²

Cloud Storage

OneDrive, Dropbox ready

📦 Get Started

Choose Your Adventure

Microsoft Store

Recommended for most users

✅ Automatic updates ✅ Sandboxed security ✅ One-click install

_{⚠️ Limited Open/Save dialog support}

Installer

Full-featured experience

✅ Complete functionality ✅ Open/Save dialog support ✅ Portable option available

_{💎 Get the full power}

Scoop

For command-line lovers

✅ Easy updates ✅ Reproducible installs ✅ Version management

scoop bucket add extras
scoop install quicklook

_{🤓 Power user choice}

Nightly

Live on the edge

✅ Latest features ✅ Bug fixes first ⚠️ May be unstable

_{🌙 Experimental builds}

🤔 Not sure which version to choose?

Feature	Store	Installer	Scoop	Nightly
Auto-updates	✅	⚠️	✅	⚠️
Open/Save dialogs	❌	✅	✅	✅
Portable mode	❌	✅	❌	✅
Stability	✅✅✅	✅✅✅	✅✅✅	✅✅

📖 Read the full comparison

⚡ Quick Start in 10 Seconds

Step 1️⃣  Install QuickLook
         ↓
Step 2️⃣  It runs automatically
         ↓
Step 3️⃣  Select any file
         ↓
Step 4️⃣  Press SPACE
         ↓
Step 5️⃣  🎉 Magic happens!

💡 Pro Tips:

QuickLook lives in your system tray
Works with any file in File Explorer
Use arrow keys to preview multiple files
Press Esc or Space again to close
Drag files directly from the preview!

⌨️ Master the Shortcuts

Your New Superpowers

🎮 Basic Controls

Key	Action
`Space`	Toggle preview
`Esc` `Space`	Close window
`Enter`	Open file
`↑` `↓`	Next/Previous

🔍 Navigation

Key	Action
`←` `→`	Navigate files
`Mouse Click`	Select file
`Page Up` `Down`	Scroll content
`Home` `End`	Jump to start/end

🎨 Advanced

Key	Action
`Wheel`	Zoom (images)
`Ctrl`+`Wheel`	Zoom (PDFs)
`L-Click Drag`	Rotate 3D
`M-Click Drag`	Pan 3D

💡 Pro Tip: You can navigate files using arrow keys even when the preview window isn't focused!

🧩 Extend

Supercharge QuickLook with Plugins

Transform QuickLook into a universal file viewer

OfficeViewer

Preview Word, Excel & PowerPoint files

No Microsoft Office required!

✅ Native Office formats
✅ Standalone viewer
✅ Fast rendering

PdfViewer-Native

Enhanced PDF viewing with WebView2

Modern, fast, feature-rich

✅ Smooth scrolling
✅ Search & annotations
✅ Hardware acceleration

PostScriptViewer

Preview .ps and .eps files

Perfect for designers

✅ Vector rendering
✅ High quality output
✅ Professional formats

CADImport

View CAD files natively

.dwg, .dxf, .plt, .cgm

✅ Engineering drawings
✅ Architecture files
✅ Technical diagrams

📦 How to Install or Upgrade Plugins

1️⃣ Download

Get the .qlplugin file

2️⃣ Install

Ensure QuickLook is currently running, select the file and press Spacebar.

3️⃣ Restart

Click on the Install button, then restart QuickLook.

📦 How to Remove Plugins

1️⃣ Quit

Quit QuickLook.

2️⃣ Navigate

Navigate to the Data location.

3️⃣ Remove

You should find several folders. Remove the one you do not want to use.

💖 Community

Join Thousands of Happy Users

QQ Group

Join our Chinese community

371388501

Translate

Help QuickLook speak your language

Make it accessible

Star Us

Show your support

It means a lot!

👨‍💻 For Developers

Interested in contributing? Check out our development resources:

🙏 Credits

Built with Love by Amazing People

📜 License

QuickLook is free and open source under GPL-3.0

Free software, free forever. No ads, no tracking, no premium tiers.

Need commercial licensing? Contact us for sublicensing options.

⭐ Like QuickLook? Star the repo!

Your support keeps this project alive and improving

_{Note: The official website content may be inaccurate or out of date. To help maintain the site, please submit a PR to QuickLook Website Repository}

_{Made with ❤️ by the QuickLook community}