Summary

Windows Vista introduces a Preview pane in folder view, using which you can preview image and text files, and play multimedia files from the Preview pane. This article explains how to use the PreviewConfig utility to register a custom file type for the Preview pane in folders.

Registering file types for the Preview pane

If you have a custom file type and wish to register a plain-text or a Multimedia Preview handler for the custom file type, you can do so using this utility.

Download PreviewConfig.zip (63 KB)
(Contains previewconfig.exe and readme.txt)

Usage

Download and run PreviewHandler utility (requires UAC elevation / Admin privileges to run). Select the file type from the listing, and choose the type of Preview you want for this file type (Media / Plain-text / None), and click Apply.

Additional details are available in the Readme.txt file.

Adding new file types

If your file type is not displayed in the listing, type the file extension (example, .cpp) into the text box provided, and choose the Preview type for this file extension.

Example

You may use this utility to register text previews for plain-text file types such as:

Preview Handler information

When you select a file type, the information of the Preview handler registered (if any) for the file type will be displayed in the text box. You can copy the contents to Clipboard by double-clicking the text box.

How to enable the Preview pane in Windows Vista

You can enable the preview pane by selecting Organize | Layout | Preview Pane from the folder's menu.