Folder Quick Look is a totally free Mac app that scratches an irritating itch the Mac has had for a long time. It lets you preview the contents of a folder when using Quick Look.
It’s a great utility that does one thing, does it perfectly, and doesn’t cost you a dime — it’s free and collects no data! There’s no reason not to try out Folder Quick Look. Find out why it’s an instant must-have Mac utility in our Awesome Apps review below (or watch our video demo of the app).
Folder Quick Look fixes one of the Mac’s biggest limitations
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Apple introduced Quick Look in 2007’s Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The feature, which lets you hit the space bar to get a full-size preview of images, videos, documents, audio files and more, is fantastic — but it has one fatal flaw.
The problem is that QuickLook doesn’t let you preview a folder’s contents. You can hit the space bar to select a file inside a folder, and then use the arrow keys to navigate through all the other files there. But when you hit the space bar to select a folder, all you see is a big folder icon and its name. Not too handy.
Finally, a solution
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Folder Quick Look fixes that. Install it, with no setup required, and when you Quick Look a folder, you will see a rich list view of its contents. You can sort through the list, and you can even view subfolders.
The app has no launch window that bugs you, nor does it throw a useless icon up in the menu bar. It just silently makes your Mac better.
If you do want to tweak some settings, though, you can. Hit Command-Space to open Spotlight and launch Folder Quick Look. (This screen shows instructions on how to enable Folder Quick Look’s system extension if, for whatever reason, the app doesn’t work out of the box.)
On the Quick Look tab, you can choose to show/hide hidden files, file extensions, subfolders and the file path. Personally, I set Displayed Folder Depth to 0 — I like how it loads faster, and I don’t find myself opening subfolders from the preview very often.
No reason not to try it: Download Folder Quick Look for free
The Folder Quick Look app is totally free — no purchase price, no subscription, no in-app purchase. It doesn’t collect any user data. The app is made by independent developer Martin Lexow at App Ahead Studio.
Price: Free
Download from: Mac App Store
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