MacNook
See what's inside a folder — instantly. Press Space on any folder in Finder and MacNook shows you the real contents — no Finder window required.
Download for macOSWhy MacNook?
macOS's built-in Quick Look on a folder only shows a generic icon and an item count. To actually see what's inside, you have to open Finder, navigate in, look around, and close it again. MacNook replaces that with a real preview — the same spacebar shortcut, but now you see the actual contents immediately.
What you get
Instant folder preview
Press Space on any folder in Finder — no waiting, no separate window.
File details at a glance
Name, file type icon, size, and last modified date for every item.
Sensible ordering
Folders listed first, then files, both sorted alphabetically.
Scrolls to hundreds of files
Large folders stay smooth — no lag, no truncation.
Clear empty & error states
Empty folders and permission errors get an explicit message, never a blank pane.
Dark mode
Adapts to your system appearance automatically.
Install
- 1
Download & install
Move MacNook.app to your Applications folder.
- 2
Launch once
Open MacNook once to register the extension with macOS.
- 3
Enable the extension
System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions → Quick Look.
- 4
Press Space
Select any folder in Finder and hit the spacebar.
macOS requires you to manually enable Quick Look extensions in System Settings — this is an Apple security requirement and can't be automated.
Privacy
MacNook only reads the folder you are currently previewing. It has no network access, writes nothing to disk, and cannot access any other files on your system. It runs fully sandboxed.