We all (should) know how handy QuickLook is and how much it has advanced in usability and capability. But it has always been necessary to open the app that created the original file to actually use anything in it. Just read a tip in Macworld/Mac OS X Hints that games it possible to actually copy select and copy text directly from a QuickLook preview! You'll need to enter the following in Terminal:
CODE
defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool TRUE; killall Finder
Pretty self-explanatory; we are simply changing the default operation in Finder to enable text selection in QuickLook by setting a boolean value to TRUE. The Finder needs to be restarted and that's what the "killall" command does.
Now, when you see a QuickLook preview os some text document you don't have to actually open the file with (possibly) another app. Just copy what you need and paste it into whatever app you already have open! Can one do such a thing in Windows? Does any other OS even have something like QuickLook?
If you want to reverse the capability sometime, just type in the following (in Terminal, of course):
CODE
defaults delete com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection: killall Finder
What the above Terminal typing does is create an entry in the com.apple.finder.plist file in your home Preferences directory. My entry was written at line 2872-2873.
CODE
2872 <key>QLEnableTextSelection</key>
2873 <true/>
So, you can use almost any text editor and just change the XML file so the Boolean value in the second line is either "<true/>" or "<false/>" Of course, you'll still need to restart Finder, one way or another.
