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tgags · Feb 8, 2006, 12:07 PM

Hello all,

I have been using a PC at work and I really like the 'View as thumbnails' feature of viewing files in a folder. When use my macs at home (G4 and Mac mini) I find myself missing that handy little feature. Is there any way to view folder contents like that on the mac? Or is there a 3rd party app available that can do that? I know you can open all the pics with Preview and see view the contents that way, but being able to view them in their folders that way would be very useful for me.

Thanks,
TG

mduell · Feb 8, 2006, 12:30 PM

iPhoto?

dougfm · Feb 8, 2006, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by tgags

Hello all,

I have been using a PC at work and I really like the 'View as thumbnails' feature of viewing files in a folder. When use my macs at home (G4 and Mac mini) I find myself missing that handy little feature. Is there any way to view folder contents like that on the mac? Or is there a 3rd party app available that can do that? I know you can open all the pics with Preview and see view the contents that way, but being able to view them in their folders that way would be very useful for me.

Thanks,
TG

Go to View > Show View Options when your in icon view. Then just turn on icon previews and bump the icon size up. Now you have 128x128 thumbnails.

If your on Tiger you can also use the slideshow.

tgags · Feb 8, 2006, 01:35 PM

Hmmm, thanks, iPhoto does show me the images, if it had the ability for me to right click on the file and select 'open with' it would be close to what I am looking for.

As far as the icon view options - that doesn't do it. Icons don't always show you a preview of what is in the file. With the 'view as thumbnails' option in XP you can actually see a small picture of what is in the file. I have found this to be a very useful feature, if it's not an option now, I hope Apple will look into adopting it.

Perhaps there is a 3rd party app. or another way...

Thanks so far... TG

lookmark · 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by tgags

Hmmm, thanks, iPhoto does show me the images, if it had the ability for me to right click on the file and select 'open with' it would be close to what I am looking for.

As far as the icon view options - that doesn't do it. Icons don't always show you a preview of what is in the file. With the 'view as thumbnails' option in XP you can actually see a small picture of what is in the file. I have found this to be a very useful feature, if it's not an option now, I hope Apple will look into adopting it.

You can choose a 3rd-party app to open photos in iPhoto's Preferences, but you can't (IIRC) choose for each picture.

Icon previews (again, View Options > check Show icon previews) don't work for PDFs, unfort., but should give you what you're looking for, for all other image types....

Also, do you have Tiger? It's somewhat hidden, but try selecting your pictures in the Finder, then right-clicking and selecting "Show Slideshow"... A very nifty feature.

dougfm · Feb 8, 2006, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by tgags

Hmmm, thanks, iPhoto does show me the images, if it had the ability for me to right click on the file and select 'open with' it would be close to what I am looking for.

As far as the icon view options - that doesn't do it. Icons don't always show you a preview of what is in the file. With the 'view as thumbnails' option in XP you can actually see a small picture of what is in the file. I have found this to be a very useful feature, if it's not an option now, I hope Apple will look into adopting it.

Perhaps there is a 3rd party app. or another way...

Thanks so far... TG

XP does have more extensive thumbnails. Though I don't think they're extensible. I believe Vista will be supporting thumbnail plugins. It would be nice to have something like that in Leopard, though not all file types work well as thumbnails.

tgags · Feb 9, 2006, 05:00 PM

Thanks all for the feedback.
I have been using the "Browse" feature in Photoshop, as a workaround.
Hope to see the "view as thumbnails" option come to the mac. I have grown fond of that little feature.

Regards,
TG

Brass · Feb 9, 2006, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by tgags

As far as the icon view options - that doesn't do it. Icons don't always show you a preview of what is in the file. With the 'view as thumbnails' option in XP you can actually see a small picture of what is in the file. I have found this to be a very useful feature, if it's not an option now, I hope Apple will look into adopting it.

Not sure you tried this option properly. Check it again. This setting will no longer show the default icon for a file if it is a picture file, but will show a thumbnail of the picture instead of the icon. Works for ALL picture files for me.

NB: The window must be in icon view.

• Choose View -> Show View Options
• Select "All Windows"
• Select "Show icon preview"

This should change any icons that are not currently showing as thumbnails into thumbnails (for all picture files).

Rmh1572 · Feb 9, 2006, 08:21 PM

Within the slideshow feature there is an index sheet option, which shows all selected files as a thumbnail. Also, if you do a search with spotlight, images are shown as thumbnails if view the results as icons. Also in that spotlight window there is a play button to go right to slideshow mode. Another option as stated above is to view the pictures in the finder just in icon mode. Make sure View--Show View Options--Show Item Info is checkmarked. Also if all you pictures are in one folder you could change the size of the icons just in that folder.

tgags · Feb 9, 2006, 08:53 PM

• Choose View -> Show View Options
• Select "All Windows"
• Select "Show icon preview"

Hey Brass that's it!!! (I just didn't have "show icon preview" checked).

Awesome, thanks!

TG

Brass · Feb 9, 2006, 09:28 PM

You're welcome, but thank dougfm, who suggested it first, near the top of this thread.

allblue · Feb 10, 2006, 08:07 AM

QuickImageCM will put a graphic icon on a pdf file, but if it is just text it is not very readable at 128 x 128. It will also allow you to view an image via the contextual menu without opening any application.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19253

Krusty · Feb 10, 2006, 10:13 AM

There's also Pic2Icon which will "iconize" all graphic files including pdfs in case you find stubborn ones that "Show Icon preview" doesn't work for. You can just drop your whole picture folder (or whole User folder, if you like) and walk away while it does its thing.

olePigeon · Feb 10, 2006, 03:45 PM

Isn't there a preview of a PDF in Column view?

lookmark · Feb 13, 2006, 01:00 AM

Originally Posted by allblue

QuickImageCM will put a graphic icon on a pdf file, but if it is just text it is not very readable at 128 x 128. It will also allow you to view an image via the contextual menu without opening any application.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19253

Oh, neat -- great recommendation there. (I heart Hide Itoh!) Thanks.

allblue · Feb 13, 2006, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by lookmark

Oh, neat -- great recommendation there. (I heart Hide Itoh!) Thanks.

You are welcome my friend - its nice to finally be able to help somone in this forum - its usually the other way round!