| title | description | ms.date | ms.topic | no-loc | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PowerToys Peek utility for Windows |
A system-wide utility for Windows to quickly preview file content. |
01/28/2025 |
concept-article |
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A system-wide utility for Windows to preview file content without the need to open multiple applications or interrupt your workflow. It offers a seamless and quick file preview experience for various file types, including images, Office documents, videos, web pages, Markdown files, text files, and developer files. Peek also lets you see summary information about folders.
Select a file in File Explorer and open the Peek preview using the activation / deactivation shortcut (default: Ctrl+Space).
Using Left and Right or Up and Down, you can scroll between all files in the current folder. Select multiple files in File Explorer for previewing to scroll only between selected ones.
The Peek window adjusts its size based on the dimensions of the images being previewed. However, if you prefer to keep the window's size and position, you can use the pinning feature.
By selecting the pinning button, the window will preserve the current size and position. Selecting the pinning button again will unpin the window. When unpinned, the Peek window will return to the default position and size when previewing the next file.
Select Open with or Enter to open the current file with the default program.
Hover over the preview to see extra information about the file, including its size, type, and when it was last modified.
Press the Delete key to move the current file to the Recycle Bin.
By default, a confirmation dialog will appear before deletions. To skip future confirmations, either:
- Check the "Don't show this warning again" checkbox in the dialog.
- Uncheck the "Ask for confirmation before deleting files" option in Peek's settings page.
After deleting the file, Peek will automatically preview the next file. If there are no more files to preview, a message will be displayed.
Tip
Only files may be deleted. Folders may not be deleted, even if they are empty.
From the settings page, the following options can be configured:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Activation shortcut | The customizable keyboard command to open Peek for the selected file(s). |
| Always run not elevated, even when PowerToys is elevated | Tries to run Peek without elevated permissions, to fix access to network shares. |
| Automatically close the Peek window after it loses focus | |
| Ask for confirmation before deleting files | When enabled, Peek shows a confirmation dialog before deleting files. |
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