spacebarSpace Bar Preview On Mac
Press the space bar in Finder to see a file without opening it. What Apple’s Quick Look shows, and where it stops
The space bar preview on Mac is Quick Look. Select a file in Finder and press the space bar, and Quick Look shows it in a window without opening an app. Press Space again to close it. It is built into macOS, and it shows some files much better than others.
Press Space
fileSelect one file, or several, in Finder.- SpaceQuick Look opens. ⌘Y does the same.
- ← →With several selected, move between them.
- SpaceClose it.
The Keys
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| Space | Preview the selected item, and close the preview |
| ⌘Y | Preview the selected files |
| ⌥⌘Y | A slideshow of the selected files |
| ← → | The previous or next selected file |
| ⌘Return | A grid of the selected files |
| ⌘+ ⌘− | Zoom an image in or out |
The window’s buttons go full screen, mark up, rotate, trim, share, or open the file in its app.
What Apple’s Quick Look Shows
macOS previews text, HTML, CSV, PDFs, images, most audio and video, and Office files itself. For other files it often shows less than you would hope.
| You press Space on | Apple’s Quick Look shows |
|---|---|
| A folder | Its icon |
README.md | Raw Markdown symbols |
| A script (.py, .go, .sh) | Plain text at best |
| A config (.yaml, .toml, .json) | Plain text at best |
A binary Info.plist | Often just an icon |
archive.zip | Its icon and size |
| A PDF, a photo, a video | The file, one at a time |
macOS 13 to 15, with no extensions. Quick Look can mark up, rotate and trim, but it can’t edit text.
When It Breaks
If Space types a space, Finder is renaming a file or its search field has the keyboard. If Space shows nothing or the wrong preview, qlmanage -r reloads Quick Look’s previewers, and another extension may have claimed the type. Quick Look not working has every step in order, and Quick Look plugins on Sequoia explains why old plugins stopped.
Where spacebar Fits
spacebar is a free, open-source Quick Look extension for macOS 13 and later. Space on a folder, a Markdown file, a script, a config, a plist, an archive, a log or a file with no extension opens spacebar, with the folder in a sidebar. The rest stays with Apple’s Quick Look.
With the optional Space helper, which needs Accessibility, Space opens spacebar for any file. Apps, packages and .rtfd documents stay with Apple’s Quick Look, and ⌘Y still opens Apple’s. See spacebar as a Quick Look replacement, and every file type for what each one shows.
Questions
What is the space bar preview on Mac called?
Quick Look. Select a file in Finder and press the space bar, or ⌘Y, and it shows the file without opening an app.
Why does Space show only an icon?
Apple’s Quick Look has no previewer for that type, as with a folder, a zip or a binary plist. A Quick Look extension such as spacebar can add one.
Can I change what the space bar shows?
Yes. A Quick Look extension previews the types it claims. With spacebar’s optional Space helper, which needs Accessibility, Space opens spacebar for any file, and ⌘Y still opens Apple’s Quick Look.
Install It
Or paste this in Terminal
curl -fsSL https://spacebar.patebryant.com/install.sh | sh
The script downloads the latest notarized release from GitHub, checks its SHA-256 and installs to ~/Applications, no sudo. Read the script.
Sources
Checked on 4 October 2026:
- Apple: Mac keyboard shortcuts (opens in a new tab), for Space, ⌘Y and ⌥⌘Y
- Apple: View and edit files with Quick Look on Mac (opens in a new tab) for macOS 15, for the arrows, the grid, zoom and the window’s buttons