by , 7:30 AM EDT, October 20th, 2008

The Quick Look feature in Mac OS X 10.5 makes it easy to preview documents without opening them -- assuming that Leopard already knows how to preview the file, or you have installed a Quick Look plug-in that helps your Mac out. Previewing a document that Quick Look doesn't understand, however, doesn't necessarily mean you are out of luck thanks to another Leopard feature: Cover Flow.

If Quick Look can't preview a file...

If you need to preview a document that Leopard doesn't know how to show without third party plug-ins, like Adobe Illustrator documents, try switching to the Finder's Cover Flow view. In many cases, those generic thumbnail icons will turn into preview icons (including Adobe Illustrator files) letting you get a glimpse of what's inside without opening the document.

...try the Finder's Cover Flow view instead.

This is a quick and easy way to preview even more file formats that Quick Look recognizes by default, and it saves you from prowling the Internet for new plug-ins when you are working on a deadline.

[Thanks to my good friend Lesa Snider King at The Graphic Reporter for turning me on to this clever trick.]