For example, a file with extension.jpg opens in the built-in photo viewer app Preview by default, but at times you want to edit that photo in some photo editing apps such as Photoshop. Photo Viewer Free is a super fast photo viewer software with wonderful experience, supports almost all photos formats and RAW files, batch process and effective touch up features for photo browsing. Top 3: Picasa Photo Viewer. Picasa is another great solution for viewing images on Windows and Mac (Intel only). The photo viewer is able to import images in a fully automated process and put photos in chronological order. You can you can create folders, use tags, categorize by collection and share your Picasa Web Albums. Windows Photo Viewer which was also known as Windows Picture or Fax Viewer is an image viewer used in the Windows operating systems. It is an amazing application used to display individual or all the pictures in a folder. Options to use the slide show feature, print those images as well a share them through e-mail to friends are available. Windows Photo Viewer. Best photo viewer for Windows. Intuitive interface. Works with GIF images.
One of the biggest frustrating parts of moving from Windows to Mac started with the image preview tool. Such a simple function user experience that Windows Image Previewer is doing since XP, but Apple resists to adopt it. Once you open any image in the folder, you should be able to scroll through the next and previous images using arrow keys.
So default image preview app in Mac OS X (Seira or any previous version) SUCKS BIG TIME!
It works only if you select all images, right-click and hit preview, and then use up and down keys. That’s like 3 clicks painfully long process to what you can easily do with a single click. So I was on a hunt to find an app that can build Windows like image browsing with simple arrow keys, and simple zooming features with maybe some additional features.
Also Read:Fotojet Designer Mac App Review – For Designing Social Posts/Printables
Windows Like Best Photo Preview App for Mac OS XThe app I am going to suggest if called PhotoX, and its a completely free app on Mac App Store, but few steps mentioned below will make it run as good as windows preview tool and scrolling through images will be awesome again!
Download & Install the AppHead over to the Mac OS app store, and download our Windows like image browsing tool PhotoX.
Make it Default Image Preview AppOnce you install the app, you have to make it a default preview app, otherwise, you have to right-click and select open with to work it properly.
Go to any of your folder with photos.
Right-click (control-click) on any image.
Click on Get Info > Click on Open With > Select Photo X > Click on Change All.
This will give you a warning that you are changing the default app for that image format. Just confirm and you’re done.
Finishing Touch!You’re not quite done yet. As the first image, you select, might be just a JPEG. And your new Windows-like photo viewer PhotoX only defaults for that format.
So just enlist the most formats you need. My requirement was just JPEGs and PNGs. So I opened another GET INFO tab, and set PhotoX as default previewer there.
You can do additional image formats, for which you need quick formatting.
So PhotoX, not only allows you to scroll images with side arrows just like in Windows, but you can zoom in and out with Up & Down Arrows, Rotate, Tilt, Flip image, all of the good stuff using this single app!
I simply loved a lot of things on Mac OS X, but this photo scrolling using arrow keys was the first thing I wanted to fix immediately. There are other free apps like Xee, or paid ones with even better options for editing like Adobe Lightroom, but for most basic functionality I thought it’s ridiculous to pay for an app, that does nothing but scrolling through images. So PhotoX is the best Image preview app for me at least.
Please share what other problems you might have faced with image previews, or if any other app you would like to recommend, in the comments section below.
Best Image Viewer For MacViewing and organizing photos is a common thing people do on their computer. Recently, I received a mail from a reader John. He wrote that he is searching for an alternative to Photos App and what are the best image viewers for Mac.
Hello Saurabh,
How To Activate Photo Viewer For Mac ProI have been using Mac for years, and I store and manage all my photos on my Mac Mini. I know that I can press spacebar to get a preview of the selected photo on the finder. But I don’t like Mac’s built-in photo editing and viewing options and I don’t want to spend money on Adobe’s Image Management apps.
Can you recommend me some of the best image viewers for Mac?
Thanks
John
One thing that I don’t like with finder’s image preview is that to navigate all photos through arrow keys on keyboards, you need to select them with Command-A.
On Windows 10, Microsoft has a good photo viewing app called Photos where you can view photos and start a slideshow. Let’s take a look at some of the best image viewing apps on Mac.
Best Image Viewers for Mac SequentialSequential is a slick and good looking image viewer for Mac OS X. It supports all common image formats including jpg, PNG, GIF. Additionally, Sequential can open files in ZIP, RAR and PDF format. One of the unique features of Sequential is that it can open CBZ and CBR formats that are used for digital comics. With Sequential, you can easily open a folder containing images and then view them in the correct order. At the time of writing, the app is completely free.
Sequential for Mac is a good image viewing software
The app I am going to suggest if called PhotoX, and its a completely free app on Mac App Store, but few steps mentioned below will make it run as good as windows preview tool and scrolling through images will be awesome again!
Download & Install the AppHead over to the Mac OS app store, and download our Windows like image browsing tool PhotoX.
Make it Default Image Preview AppOnce you install the app, you have to make it a default preview app, otherwise, you have to right-click and select open with to work it properly.
Go to any of your folder with photos.
Right-click (control-click) on any image.
Click on Get Info > Click on Open With > Select Photo X > Click on Change All.
This will give you a warning that you are changing the default app for that image format. Just confirm and you’re done.
Finishing Touch!You’re not quite done yet. As the first image, you select, might be just a JPEG. And your new Windows-like photo viewer PhotoX only defaults for that format.
So just enlist the most formats you need. My requirement was just JPEGs and PNGs. So I opened another GET INFO tab, and set PhotoX as default previewer there.
You can do additional image formats, for which you need quick formatting.
So PhotoX, not only allows you to scroll images with side arrows just like in Windows, but you can zoom in and out with Up & Down Arrows, Rotate, Tilt, Flip image, all of the good stuff using this single app!
I simply loved a lot of things on Mac OS X, but this photo scrolling using arrow keys was the first thing I wanted to fix immediately. There are other free apps like Xee, or paid ones with even better options for editing like Adobe Lightroom, but for most basic functionality I thought it’s ridiculous to pay for an app, that does nothing but scrolling through images. So PhotoX is the best Image preview app for me at least.
Please share what other problems you might have faced with image previews, or if any other app you would like to recommend, in the comments section below.
Best Image Viewer For MacViewing and organizing photos is a common thing people do on their computer. Recently, I received a mail from a reader John. He wrote that he is searching for an alternative to Photos App and what are the best image viewers for Mac.
Hello Saurabh,
How To Activate Photo Viewer For Mac ProI have been using Mac for years, and I store and manage all my photos on my Mac Mini. I know that I can press spacebar to get a preview of the selected photo on the finder. But I don’t like Mac’s built-in photo editing and viewing options and I don’t want to spend money on Adobe’s Image Management apps.
Can you recommend me some of the best image viewers for Mac?
Thanks
John
One thing that I don’t like with finder’s image preview is that to navigate all photos through arrow keys on keyboards, you need to select them with Command-A.
On Windows 10, Microsoft has a good photo viewing app called Photos where you can view photos and start a slideshow. Let’s take a look at some of the best image viewing apps on Mac.
Best Image Viewers for Mac SequentialSequential is a slick and good looking image viewer for Mac OS X. It supports all common image formats including jpg, PNG, GIF. Additionally, Sequential can open files in ZIP, RAR and PDF format. One of the unique features of Sequential is that it can open CBZ and CBR formats that are used for digital comics. With Sequential, you can easily open a folder containing images and then view them in the correct order. At the time of writing, the app is completely free.
Sequential for Mac is a good image viewing software
Its lightweight too, making sure that it will run well even on your aging Mac Mini or MacBook Air.
XeeWhile Xee costs $4 on the Mac app store. The streamlined user interface and good functionality. Xee can open all photos inside a folder and compressed archives. After launching Xee, you can see an image and its metadata.
The image viewer of Xee is fairly minimalistic and it hides al unnecessary info when you are inside a preview. Just like Sequential, Xee can also open CBR and CBZ files making it good for reading comics. One of the strong points of Xee is its good support of gestures. You can zoom and rotate images with your touchpad. If all you want is a minimal and strong image viewer for Mac, Xee is worth a look.
XnViewXnView is a popular image viewer. The developer claims that XnView has support for almost 500 different formats. Processor for mac os. In my testing, it did open most types of image formats that I had. As a cherry on top, XnView can also convert images to another format should you need to.
XnView’s features don’t stop there. It has built-in options for applying basic fixes and filters. Also, it can create slideshows for you. In image management departments, XnView has great support for batch renaming, metadata management, and a duplicate file finder.
XnView is one of the best image viewers for Mac
XnView makes it a great replacement for built-in photo preview in finder if you deal with tons of image formats every day or you want some extra control with your pictures. It is free for personal use and does not include any adware or spyware.
Google PicasaPicasa is probably one of the most polished image viewers for Mac OS. Sure, Google Killed off Picasa recently, but the photo viewer app is still polished enough for most people. The Picasa Photo Viewer is fast, stable and still looks and performs as good as most other photo viewers for Mac.
Rather than looking like an image viewer in Android’s Gallery app, the Photo Viewer for Mac has a similar feeling to a media player. You can press Enter key on your keyboard to see any image in the fullscreen mode, and if you need, with just one click, you can start a slideshow.
Now that Google has shut down Picasa’s web service, the image upload feature will not be supported. Still, the app should run fine, and you can always use other services to upload photos to the cloud.
Even if you don’t want advanced image editing that Picasa offers, you should give Picasa a try. I have been using it on all my computers, and it has never let me down.
GIMPIf you have been editing photos for some time, you must have heard about GIMP. It’s a powerful image edition program that has been around for decades. It is an open source application that supports not only viewing but it also has airbrushing, fixing, penciling and a ton of other features. GIMP for Mac UI opens with a folder and file directly tree on is left pace. Next to it is a set of thumbnail images and there are buttons with a set of commands surrounding these panes.
GIMP has a slight learning curve if you have never used professional image editing applications. But. GIMP is the most powerful free image editing and viewing too around.
Which one is your favorite?Among all the app in this post, which ones do you think is the best image viewers for Mac and why? Share with others in the comments below.
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