Add QuickLook Plugins

Hey guys, this is Mac Heads 101. If you have Leopard, you probably know about the great feature of Quick Look, which allows you to see what's inside a file without actually opening it, like a song, a movie, or a picture. However, it doesn't always work. Let's say, for example, with applications, I can see what the application is, see some information. But for folders, like my desktop, it's just a shortcut. It just says "Desktop." I can't see what's in it.

Well, now with these new plugins, I can! If I click on my Documents, I can see what's inside my Documents, or I can see what's inside my "La" folder, and then I can go to that and Quick Look this. This actually doesn't require a plugin.

So how do we get these plugins? Well, the first thing you need to do is download them, of course. The website not only is going to be in the description of the video, but I think you can remember it's called quicklookplugins.com. Here, basically, there’s a whole bunch of things and links to all the plugins.

So let’s say we want this one. We say "Download from the developer.” It’ll bring you a link to that site for that particular plugin. It’ll tell you what it’s about, and you say "Download." You say "OK." Now, hold on, that’s just a download manager I got. OK, so now we can quit out of this because we have our download.

Now, for this particular one, it has the folder that it needs you to drag it to, but most of them are not going to have this. This is just a place that shows you exactly where the folder is—kind of like when you download something, it tells you to drag it to your Applications folder. But if you don’t know where this folder is, you just hold the Finder icon or right-click on it and say "Go to Folder." Then you say "/Library/QuickLook," and this path will be in the description of the video as well.

So, you say enter and open a new window with that. Everything’s in there. What you do is you drag that into that. Now, I actually already have this one, so I’ll say stop, but you’re going to want to drag it, and it’s not even going to show you that message. Now, I'm telling you right now, that’s not all you do.

If you think your computer is messed up, why didn’t it work? That’s because you didn’t watch the rest of the video. So now this is what you do for it to work: the first thing you do after you put it in there is to first finish watching this video. Then, do as I say: log out and then log back in because you have to do that or it will not work.

Then you need to open Terminal and write this command: qlmanage -r. If you do that, "ql" stands for Quick Look, and that’s the Quick Look refresh—like to relocate all the Quick Look features and stuff. So you say that, and it says "QL resetting all generators," which means it found everything, and that’s all you need to do. It should find them.

So, um, yeah. Thanks for watching! Have a nice day and please subscribe. Bye!