10 ‘Preview’ Hacks Every Apple User Should Know
10 ‘Preview’ Hacks Every Apple User Should Know
https://lifehacker.com/tech/10-preview-hacks-every-apple-user-should-know
Publish Date: 2026-07-09 20:53:00
Source Domain: lifehacker.com
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Preview is one of the Mac’s most underrated apps. At first, you’ll likely only encounter Preview when you try to open images or PDFs, but there’s much more to the app than just opening files. I began exploring Preview’s advanced features a decade ago, and I’ve found it’s one of the best free PDF editors for the Mac. And, if you have an iPhone or iPad, you get many of the same benefits with Preview’s mobile version. If you’d like to make the most of Preview, here are 10 hacks you should know.
Use this shortcut to view files without opening them in Preview
It might seem paradoxical, but one of the best Preview hacks is avoiding using Preview when you don’t need to. If you’re opening every single app on your Mac each time you want to quickly view something, you’re probably wasting a lot of time. Instead, you can preview files without opening them. Start by locating the file you wish to preview, then select it and press the spacebar. This action activates Quick Look, which taps into Preview to view the file without opening it. To close this preview, you can press the spacebar once again. I use this regularly to view images, PDFs, or even to check how many files are inside a folder. If you’re annoyed by Preview’s limitation of not showing the contents of a folder in Quick Look, then you can use an app called Folder Preview to add that feature to your Mac.
Change this setting to use Preview’s hidden PDF dark mode
Credit: Pranay Parab
Preview can open PDFs for you, but those files often have a bright white background—even when your device is in dark mode. If, like me, you dislike reading documents with bright backgrounds, there’s good news: Preview allows you to use a dark background for PDFs. To try this, open a PDF in Preview, select View…
