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Leopard Quick Look for Illustrator Files
I love Quick Look but when it doesn’t work for a certain file type it makes me sad– especially Illustrator files which by default are PDF compatible and should be quick-lookable.
I’m compiling a list of useful Quick Look plugins here. So far, including plugins for eps, zip, flash, XML, various image formats and folders
UPDATE
I’ve found two ways of getting Quick Look previews of Illustrator files (at least those saved with PDF compatibility).
1. Add a new Quick Look Plugin
So basically, I just copied the pdf plugin and made it an Illustrator plugin.
Here is the file: illust.qlgenerator.zip
Unzip the file and copy the file (illust.qlgenerator) to the below directory (replace YOURUSERNAME with your short user name)
/Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/QuickLook/
It worked for me from the start but it might be worth restarting/logging in etc. I think this is a better method and easy!
2. Change the Application info.plist file
MacOSXhints are we all know is a great site and I found the answer to enabling the Finder to Quick Look other file types. The process is similar for Illustrator files.
Edit Illustrator’s info.plist file
I only have Illustrator CS so you’ll have to change the folders for it to work with later versions.
1. Open your Illustrator Folder, right click on the application icon and select “Show Package Contents”
2. Open the “Contents” folder
3. make a copy of “info.plist” incase things go wrong
4. open info.plist with a Text editor (TextWrangler is great and free), or TextEdit which comes with the system
5. Scroll down to the bottom of the file and:
Just above:
</dict>
</plist>
add:
<key>UTExportedTypeDeclarations</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>UTTypeConformsTo</key>
<array>
<string>public.composite-content</string>
<string>com.adobe.pdf</string>
</array>
<key>UTTypeDescription</key>
<string>Adobe Illustrator File PDF</string>
<key>UTTypeIdentifier</key>
<string>com.adobe.illustrator.ai-image</string>
<key>UTTypeTagSpecification</key>
<dict>
<key>com.apple.ostype</key>
<string>PDF</string>
<key>public.filename-extension</key>
<array>
<string>ai</string>
</array>
</dict>
</dict>
</array>
You then can move the Illustrator Application to the Desktop and then back to its folder. Or use the terminal command touch to force the Finder to update its records. basically it’s just: touch path_to_illustrator.app (in my case see below).
touch /Applications/Adobe\ Illustrator\ CS/Illustrator\ CS.app
Bingo, you’re done
So now Illustrator Files can be previewed with Quick Look with just a touch of the space bar! REMEMBER only illustrator files saved with the PDF compatible checkbox checked will work (this has the side effect of making the files larger but otherwise is useful)
Found this plugin useful? Consider donating a tiny amount of cash to help keep this site going. Thanks-
Any graphic designer with many years of clip art and thousands of files is really glad for this tip. Adobe said it wasn’t going to support any of its programs for Leopard before CS3, so we had a sour taste left in our mouths. Haven’t tried it yet, but it sure should help.