How to preview multiple photos at once in Quick Look on Mac

Learn how to preview several selected photos or files at once in Mac’s Quick Look so you can see them all at the same time and supercharge your workflow.

Multiple photos open in Quick Look on Mac

You most likely know that you can perform a Quick Look preview on Mac by highlighting a file and pressing the Space Bar. But did you know that it’s possible to view multiple files at once using Quick Look?

I’m not talking about browsing through each selection using the left and right arrow keys; I’m talking about viewing both files or photos simultaneously within the Quick Look interface.

In this post, I’ll show you how to preview multiple items at once and a few other handy Quick Look tips for good measure.

View multiple files or photos at once in Quick Look

  1. Select the files you wish to preview and press the Space Bar on your Mac’s keyboard. One of the files will open in Quick Look and appear on the screen.
  2. Now, hold the Command key and press the Enter/Return key.
  3. You will now be able to view all of the selected files at once. To view a single file in a bigger window, just click on it. And to return to the thumbnail view, press Command + Return once again.
Multiple photos open in Mac's Quick Look

Open Quick Look in full-screen

  1. Select the files you wish to preview.
  2. Hold the Option key and press Space Bar to open the file(s) in a full-screen Quick Look window. From here, you can use the left and right arrow keys to see other selected images.
  3. When you’re done, press the esc key to exit full-screen Quick Look.

Zoom to view the actual size of photos in Quick Look

  1. Open photos in Quick Look using the Space Bar.
  2. Hold the Option key to zoom in to the actual size.
  3. Use your cursor to pan around the image.
Quick Look Zoom

Two more useful tips for your Mac: