How to View Files in Windows Without Opening Them

Your Windows PC may be home to Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, photos, images, videos, music, audio files, and more. Wouldn't it be great if you could view each of those files quickly and easily without having to open them through their associated applications? Well, you can perform that feat with assistance from a file viewer.

Beyond helping you check out your own files, a file viewer can help you view unknown files. In some cases, you may not know which program to use to view such a file. In other cases, you may not even have the necessary application to open the file.

File Explorer in Windows 10 and 11 comes with its own preview pane that can display certain types of files. However, you can also enlist the aid of several third-party programs, including QuickLook, WinQuickLook, Cool File Viewer, File Viewer Plus, and All Video Player HD.

File Explorer Preview Pane

First, let's check out the preview pane in File Explorer. Open File Explorer in Windows 10, click the View tab, and select Preview pane. Click a file you wish to view, such as a Word document, Excel sheet, PowerPoint presentation, PDF, or image. The file appears in the preview pane. Increase or decrease the size or width of the file by dragging the separation bar left or right.

In Windows 11, open File Explorer, click the View menu, move to Show, and select Preview pane. Click the file you wish to view to see it in the pane.

QuickLook

QuickLook offers a cool and convenient way to display files. Install this free app, and it integrates into File Explorer. There's now no need to manually open any type of preview window or pane. In File Explorer, just select the file you want to view and press the spacebar. The QuickLook window pops up to display the file in a dedicated window.

With QuickLook, you can view a variety of file types, including Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, HTML files, and ZIP files. You can even play many audio and video files. To use the program with Microsoft Office files, you'll need to install a free plug-in, which you can find on the developer's Available Plugins page.

You can also easily navigate through multi-page documents and scrub through audios and videos. As in File Explorer, just resize the window to increase or decrease the size of the viewed file. And you can open a file through its native application just by clicking the Open button.

WinQuickLook

The $1.99 WinQuickLook works similarly to QuickLook. After you install the program, it hooks into File Explorer. Select the file you want to view in File Explorer, press the spacebar, and the file appears in its own window. From there, click the "Open with" button if you want to open the file in its native application. WinQuickLook supports a variety of file types, including Microsoft Office files, PDFs, HTML files, and many audio and videos formats.

Cool File Viewer

With the free version of Cool File Viewer, you can view a limited number of file types and play certain audio and video files. However, the true power of this program comes with an in-app purchase of the $20 paid Pro version.

The full Cool File Viewer Pro program gives you the ability to view PDFs, all types of images, and a variety of video and audio files. You can view and extract compressed files in ZIP and RAR formats. Plus, you can view and edit Microsoft Office documents.

Cool File Viewer doesn't integrate directly into File Explorer but runs as a small standalone window. You can position the window alongside File Explorer and then drag and drop each file you want to see into Cool File Viewer.

As another option, click the Choose button in Cool File Viewer and select a file to view. You can also peek at files through File Explorer by choosing Open with > Cool File Viewer.

File Viewer Plus

The free version of File Viewer Plus will display files from Microsoft Word and Excel as well as PDFs, image files, and HTML files. You can also play a variety of audio and video types. To view additional files, such as PowerPoint presentations, you'll have to shell out $29.99 to upgrade to the paid version.

Like Cool File Viewer, File Viewer Plus runs as a standalone window that you can position next to File Explorer if you wish. Drag and drop each file you want to view on top of the window or grab a file by browsing to and selecting it from the program. You can also view files directly in File Explorer by using the "Open with" command and selecting File Viewer Plus.

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The File Viewer Plus window is feature packed. Open a Word document or Excel spreadsheet, and the toolbars and commands for Word or Excel appear. You can then change the formatting and other attributes to view the file in different ways.

With the paid version, you can retain whatever formatting changes you make and then save, convert, or print the file. Open an image file, and you can adjust the brightness, contrast, sharpness, size, rotation, and other effects.

By default, File Viewer Plus displays an info pane next to the displayed file with its metadata and other details. However, you can turn off this pane and the toolbars to view the file full screen.

All Video Player HD

Looking for a program that can play video and audio files? Look no further than All Video Player HD. With this utility, you can tune up a variety of formats, including MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV, MP3, M4A, and M4B.

The app is versatile as you can access and play videos and audio files a variety of ways. Drag and drop a file from File Explorer onto the All Video Player HD window, and it immediately starts playing, or just open a file from within the program itself. You can add an entire folder of video or audio files, and All Video Player HD will queue them up to play one after another. You can easily view a history list of past audio and video files that you've played and replay any of them.

All Video Player HD can even play videos from ISO files and certain DVDs by loading the .vob files from the disc's VIDEO_TS folder. The app will also play videos and audio directly from the web through a URL. You can view any file's metadata, such as the size and frame rate. The basic version is free but saddles you with ads. Pony up $4.99 and the ads go away.