10.5: Peek inside zip files with a Quick Look plug-in

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Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 7:30AM PST • Contributed by: ndrake

One thing I've longed for is the ability to quickly see the contents of zip files from the Finder. I've written a Quick Look plug-in that will display the contents of zip files (support for other archive formats is on the to do list).

To install it (for the current user), copy the ZipQuickLook.qlgenerator file into ~/Library/QuickLook (you may need to create the QuickLook directory). Browse to a zip file in the Finder and press the Space Bar to try it out.

[robg adds: Someone at Macworld also told me about xdd's mac.com page, which contains a number of Quick Look plug-ins, including one for zip file viewing. I tried them both, and personally prefer one from xdd, as it shows more detail on the files in the zip. While working on this hint, I was also referred to this page, which creates a similar Quick Look viewer for your folders in the Finder.]

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10.5: Peek inside zip files with a Quick Look plug-in | 11 comments | Create New Account

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10.5: Peek inside zip files with a Quick Look plug-in
Authored by: chunkbot on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 10:34AM PST

I just tried the xdd version per Rob's suggestion. It's slick. I grabbed the folder plugin as well.

10.5: Peek inside zip files with a Quick Look plug-in
Authored by: afb on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 12:20PM PST

I've also found this plugin (from this ars technica thread) that previews images in zip files in QuickLook, as well as changing the finder icons to the first image in the file.

It'd be great to combine both of these features into one plugin.
Also, the two links posted by Rob are for the same plugin it seems. The mac.com link is from the developer, and the hatena.ne.jp one is the GUI designer.

10.5: Peek inside zip files with a Quick Look plug-in
Authored by: robogobo on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 12:36PM PST

Oh really? thanks for pointing out that it changes the finder icon. I won't be using it now as that is a really bad feature.

10.5: Peek inside zip files with a Quick Look plug-in
Authored by: afb on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 12:46PM PST

At least that's what I thought, but now that I try it, I can't reproduce it.

Though just to clarify, that's not either of the ones mentioned in the hint.

10.5: Peek inside zip files with a Quick Look plug-in
Authored by: jjardoino on Sun, May 18 2008 at 3:18AM PDT

I have a question: imagine that you use both xxd (to see the content) and ars technica (to see pictures) plugins. How is it possible to choose the view (content or images) when hitting space bar?

I think (but I can be wrong) that only one of these plugin must be installed to avoid pictures displaying when you want to see zip content, and avoid zip content displaying when you want to see the pictures.

---
jjardoino
France
http://www.graffitix.com

10.5: Peek inside zip files with a Quick Look plug-in
Authored by: UberFu on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 1:45PM PST

I pulled down the Folder and ZIP plugins_ They are great_

Didn't know that we could build Plugins for QuickLook - this is Way Cool_

QuickLook was one of the Primo "new features" that pulled me to Leopard_ CoverFlow - not so much_ But this just makes a great new feature that much better_

10.5: Peek inside zip files with a Quick Look plug-in
Authored by: ndrake on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 3:47PM PST

Wow, my plugin sucks compared to xdd's! Google didn't return any results when I was first looking for a plugin to do this.

10.5: Peek inside zip files with a Quick Look plug-in
Authored by: makaio on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 11:35PM PST

I'm working on putting together a directory of all the QuickLook plugins I can find at http://www.qlplugins.com. Still a work in progress and there aren't many out there yet, but hopefully it proves useful for someone.

What about gzip/bzip2/tar/tar+gzip/tar+bzip2?
Authored by: sveiki on Thu, Nov 29 2007 at 9:59PM PST

I do a lot of work back and forth with Linux and Unix users. It'd be nice to have a quick look plugin for tarballs that are gzipped or bzipped... I don't really want to do it myself, especially considering xdd's plugins are already so pretty.

What about gzip/bzip2/tar/tar+gzip/tar+bzip2?
Authored by: ndrake on Sat, Dec 1 2007 at 8:13AM PST

Check out this one: http://macitbetter.com/BetterZipQL-1.0

It works on ZIP, TAR, GZip, BZip2, ARJ, LZH, ISO, CHM, CAB, CPIO, RAR, 7-Zip, DEB, RPM, StuffIt's SIT, DiskDoubler, BinHex, and MacBinary

10.5: sit command line utility?
Authored by: ctierney on Thu, Dec 13 2007 at 12:06PM PST

Pardon the OT, but has anyone ever come across a command line utility that can decompress sit archives? I understand it's a proprietary format owned by Allume, so I'm not holding my breath. :)

--
Cole

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