Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Exploring OS X: Quick Look
Quick Look is a simple feature that lets you instantly preview the contents of files
without having to open them in an application. To use Quick Look, just select a file
in a Finder window or on the desktop and hit SPACE (or right-click the file and select
Quick Look from the menu that appears). Its contents will be instantly viewable in a
pop-up window that will disappear if you hit SPACE again (or ESC ) or click the close
button.
Quick Look understands most commonly used files, including Microsoft Office and
iWork documents, images, and movies. The document formatting within Office docu-
ments isn't always great, but you can at least get an idea of the file's contents.
Quick Look works almost everywhere within OS X, and not just Finder windows. For
example, select an attachment in Mail and hit SPACE to instantly view it. Select a file
sent to you in Message, and then hit SPACE to do the same thing. Looking at files in
the print queue? Just select one and hit SPACE to see its contents.
You can also select several files at once and take a look at them as described earlier
(hit SPACE or right-click and select Quick Look). The first of the files will be previewed,
but you can move through the rest you highlighted using the left/right buttons at
the top left. If you click the gallery button to the right of the left/right buttons, the
files will be arranged in a gallery within the Quick Look window, so you can rapidly
glance through their contents. Selecting one will enlarge it within the Quick Look
window, and clicking the gallery button again will let you return to viewing all the
files.
Launchpad
A hidden setting can be tweaked to make Launchpad appear and disappear
instantly. To activate it, open a Terminal window (open Finder, select the
Applications list, then in the list of applications double-click Terminal within
the UTILITIES folder). Type the following two lines, hitting RETURN after each:
DEFAULTS WRITE COM.APPLE.DOCK SPRINGBOARD-SHOW-DURATION -INT 0
DEFAULTS WRITE COM.APPLE.DOCK SPRINGBOARD-HIDE-DURATION -INT 0;KILLALL DOCK
The changes take effect instantly. To revert to the previous animated effect,
open a Terminal window again, and type the following two lines:
DEFAULTS DELETE COM.APPLE.DOCK SPRINGBOARD-SHOW-DURATION
DEFAULTS DELETE COM.APPLE.DOCK SPRINGBOARD-HIDE-DURATION;KILLALL DOCK
You can also reduce the amount of time pages of apps within Launchpad take
to scroll in and out. Open a Terminal window, and type the following if you
want the pages to slide in and out instantly:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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