What is the point of Preview on iPad OS?

[kat.hayes]

I am going through files in my Files Folder and as I click on them it opens them in Preview, launching the app before showing the file. I do not understand the point of this. On my Mac I press spacebar to open a file quickly in Preview to view it and use the arrows on the keyboard to quickly go through lots of files to get previews of them. On an iPad it doesnt seem as helpful, especially when there is a delay with the file actually being displayed after selecting a file. What am I missing? How is Preview supposed to be used on iPad OS? Thanks

 

[aevan]

I am going through files in my Files Folder and as I click on them it opens them in Preview, launching the app before showing the file. I do not understand the point of this. On my Mac I press spacebar to open a file quickly in Preview to view it and use the arrows on the keyboard to quickly go through lots of files to get previews of them. On an iPad it doesnt seem as helpful, especially when there is a delay with the file actually being displayed after selecting a file. What am I missing? How is Preview supposed to be used on iPad OS? Thanks

Pressing space is not actually the same as launching the Preview app on Mac. The app is a viewer, space invokes the Quick View which uses extensions of different apps (but usually Preview) to quickly show content.

Preview on iPad is an app for viewing various formats, like on a Mac. Before iPadOS 26, this vas delegated to the Files app, but now it’s handled by Preview. We can assume that Apple can now work on inproving the Preview app and adding features. In this version, it gained some new PDF capabilities if I’m not mistaken.

Functionally, it’s not a massive difference, but it’s still a good move as it shows Apple is acknowledging the need for built in media and dociment viewer app on iPad.

 

[BigBlur]

You can do 'Quick Look' in the Files app. Long press a file > Quick Look. You can then swipe left and right to quick look at the other files.

If you want Quick Look to be the default action when tapping a file, long press a file > Open With > Preview with Quick Look.

 

[It’s always something]

Aside from “previewing” files, the Preview app allows you (on a file type-dependent basis) to make edits to files.

One thing that I found bothersome the one time I actually attempted to use Preview as a previewer is that it doesn’t allow you to flip/swipe through files in the current folder; it seems to be a one-file-at-a-time interface. This is less useful to me personally with respect to previewing files, and I have switched back to using Quick Look for that purpose. I can still open a file in Preview if I want to edit it. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Mike Boreham]

Aside from “previewing” files, the Preview app allows you (on a file type-dependent basis) to make edits to files.

One thing that I found bothersome the one time I actually attempted to use Preview as a previewer is that it doesn’t allow you to flip/swipe through files in the current folder; it seems to be a one-file-at-a-time interface. This is less useful to me personally with respect to previewing files, and I have switched back to using Quick Look for that purpose. I can still open a file in Preview if I want to edit it. 🤷‍♂️

As @BigBlur said you need to long press on a file and select "Preview with quicklook" and you can swipe and use the left/right arrows like before. The setting sticks thereafter, so you only need to do it once.

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