View files quickly on Mac

You may not be able to find the right file quickly. It is then quite a job to open all possible files in the associated programs. Fortunately, that’s not necessary either. On the Mac, users can view a file with a quick view. The associated program does not have to start up first.

In this tip, we assume a Mac with MacOS 10.14 Mojave or later, but the steps are similar on previous versions of the operating system.

• Open the Finder (the smiley face icon on the Dock).
• Navigate to the file you want to view.
• Click on the file.
• Press the spacebar on the keyboard.
• A view of the file opens. The formatting may look slightly different from the original program. Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to view the other files in the folder as well.
• Found the right file? Then open the file in the corresponding program. click on Open with XXX (where XXX stands for the name of the program).
  

Tip: you can always close the quick view by pressing the spacebar again.