This isn't the first time we've heard of Microsoft cribbing from Apple lately. Windows Explorer's preview pane is functional but not exactly super useful. It should be noted you can already preview files in a pane on the side of Explorer currently, but images are usually the size of postage stamps. Windows Latest points out it's integrated with the Windows Photos app, but it's not clear if Peek also works with videos, documents, and other types of media like on the Mac. Unlike Quick Look, which is baked into the OS, you'll need to be running PowerToys in the background to get it to function. It's enough to understand what is in the file you're searching for though. It doesn't give you a full-screen image, just a small preview.

(Image: Windows Latest)Īs you can see above, Windows Peek looks exactly like MacOS Quick Look. The company has deemed them too hardcore for noobs, so they're tucked away for people who know what they're doing.

For the uninitiated, PowerToys is a repository of system utilities made my Microsoft. It was originally designed as a prototype, but was appreciated enough that it made its way to PowerToys. The site says the feature was created at a 'hack week' at the company. For images you'll be able to zoom in and out, and edit them in the Photos app. Once the preview pops up, you have options for what to do next. With a file selected in Explorer you press Shift+Spacebar to see a preview of it. It's called Peek and it performs functionally the same as the MacOS version. Perhaps it was working on its version in beta all this time.Īccording to Windows Latest (Opens in a new window), the feature has already been added to PowerToys in internal builds at Microsoft. This feature first launched on the Mac in 2007, and now 15 years later Microsoft might add it to Windows 10 and 11. This makes it easy to quickly find a particular file when it's lost in a sea of icons. Even better, with the file displayed you can press the arrow keys to cycle through the remaining files in the folder. It can be used on almost anything, including videos, PDFs, Word docs, and images. It lets you select a file and press the spacebar to see a preview of it. MacOS users have long enjoyed a simple yet useful feature: Quick Look.

Windows file explorer for mac