larger preview with the space bar not working

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Level 1

47 points

larger preview with the space bar not working

Yosemite 10.10.1 on an iMac: you know how you can single click on a photo or file in Finder, then press the spacebar and a window opens with a larger view of the file without actually opening it? I don't know what you call that (do tell me if you know), but it has stopped working like it used to in the last week.

I do get the window, but only a smaller thumbnail preview now, with a white border around it. These preview thumbnails are only about 1.5" by 2", and won't resize. Granted, it's bigger than the actual file icon, but not as big as it used to go when hitting the spacebar (nearly the height of the full screen). I've attached an image showing Now and Before.

The top image is only a cropped screen grab of less than a quarter of my screen. The bottom image is the full screen off my older Mac where this preview option still works.

Notice, too, that even the thumbnail of the image, in the Finder window, is constricted and has that white border now.

Did the key command change? or is there a preference I've accidentally turned off?

Thanks in advance for any help.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Feb 1, 2015 6:39 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 1, 2015 6:48 AM in response to Jan Brownell

The feature is called Quick Look. Try reseting the Quick Look caches by opening Terminal and typing "qlmanage -r" and then "qlmanage -r cache". If that doesn't work try deleting the cache folders manually under ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.QuickLookDaemon and ~/Library/Caches/qlmanage.

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Answer 2

Jan Brownell Author

Level 1

47 points

Feb 1, 2015 7:29 AM in response to James Brickley

that directory is not on my iMac, James. I have ~/Library/QuickLook/iBooksAuthor.qlgenerator or ~/Library/QuickLook/iWork.qlgenerator/

under ~/Library/Caches I have

Why would it suddenly stop working, Japib? I didn't update recently...

and these are just the usual files I've always looked at with QuickLook -- mostly photos.

thanks for your input. Any other suggestions? should I call Apple Support?

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Answer 3

Feb 1, 2015 6:53 AM in response to Japib

It should be working, it does for me. It is only supposed to show the thumbnail or a plain white box if there is a problem or the file type is not handled by Quick look. Developers can create their own custom file formats and have Quick Look support them if they add a Quick Look plugin.

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Answer 4

Jan Brownell Author

Level 1

47 points

Feb 1, 2015 7:48 AM in response to James Brickley

ahhh. that folder was Hidden! Thanks for that Trick James. I found the caches and put them in the trash. I restarted. It took a while, so there may have also been an update install waiting as well.

That did the job — large previews working again, and the larger thumbs in the Finder window, as well.

Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

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Answer 5

Aug 8, 2017 12:39 PM in response to James Brickley

Thanks James, this sorted out the problem for me. I could previously quick look video clips to decide what I want to use quickly. Then a few days ago the function stopped, what you suggested sorted the problem out as I was having to open every clip in VLC. It made things take so long, so now I am back to normal!!

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Answer 6

Feb 1, 2015 7:33 AM in response to Jan Brownell

You want the Library under your home folder CMD+SHIFT+G in Finder then ~/Library/Caches and don't for get the tilde at the start. The tilde means start from your home folder.

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Answer 7

Japib

Level 4

2,843 points

Feb 1, 2015 6:41 AM in response to Jan Brownell

Yosemite changed this. It's normal.

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