10.5: View any PowerPoint document in Quick Look

Feb 15, '08 07:30:01AM

Contributed by: davidosus

Sometimes I would be able to view PowerPoint (.pps) documents with Quick Look, but sometimes I wouldn't. This problem bothered me for some time, but I think I've solved it -- thanks to the helpful folks on this forum thread (in French).

The solution involves editing the Office Quick Look generator file; read on for the how-to...

Here's what I did:

  1. Navigate to /System » Library » QuickLook » Office.qlgenerator. Control-click on the generator and pick Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. Then navigate to Contents.
  2. Create a copy of info.plist to use as a backup.
  3. Open info.plist with TextEdit or your favorite text editor.
  4. Scroll down to find the following text:
    <real>800</real>
      <key>QLSupportsConcurrentRequests</key>
      <true/>
      <key>QLThumbnailMinimumSize</key>
      <real>17</real>
    </dict>
    </plist>
  5. Replace all of that with this:
    <real>800</real>
      <key>QLSupportsConcurrentRequests</key>
      <true/>
      <key>QLThumbnailMinimumSize</key>
      <real>17</real>
            <key>UTImportedTypeDeclarations</key>
      <array>
        <dict>
          <key>UTTypeConformsTo</key>
          <array>
            <string>com.microsoft.powerpoint.ppt</string>
          </array>
          <key>UTTypeDescription</key>
          <string>Full screen PPT file</string>
          <key>UTTypeIdentifier</key>
          <string>com.microsoft.powerpoint.ppt</string>
          <key>UTTypeTagSpecification</key>
          <dict>
            <key>public.filename-extension</key>
            <array>
              <string>pps</string>
            </array>
          </dict>
        </dict>
      </array>
    </dict>
    </plist>
  6. Save the new plist file and quit the editor.
  7. Navigate to your user's Library » Preferences folder, and trash com.apple.QuickLookDaemon.plist.
  8. Open the Terminal application and type qlmanage -r, and press Return.
All PowerPoint files should now work in Quick Look.

[robg adds: I haven't tested this one.]

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