This post on Ars Technica’s Infinite Loop features SneakPeak Pro by Code Line Communications, a Quick Look plug-in for previewing Illustrator, InDesign, and EPS files and some information about them. Unlike other Quick Look generators I’ve seen to date, it’s a commercial product normally priced at $19.95, but you can get a $5 discount by purchasing now.

Also in the comments of that post I noticed a link to a site called QLPlugins, which lists some of the Quick Look plug-ins released so far. That could turn into a very handy site.

Update: I also found found about another site, Quick Look Plugins List, which has some not on QLPlugins.

Back when Tiger was released, Apple had a section on their downloads pages for Spotlight generators, which is still there. I’m surprised they haven’t created one for Quick Look yet, as it works on exactly the same principle.

Together gets a comprehensive review by Allison Sheridan on the Mac ReviewCast #137. It’s a great review, although Allison is unsure about the difference between folders and groups, most of the new features get a big thumbs up.

Allison also interviews me afterwards on her own podcast, NosillaCast, so I get to explain the difference between groups and smart groups, and also mention some future plans for Together and Feeder. Unfortunately, due to Skype woes, the sound quality of the interview wasn’t so great, so you can hear me clearly while Allison’s audio was very quiet. Normally it’s the other way around!

Update: Allison informs me that the audio is fixed, thanks to some late night work by Ambrosia Software, so now you can hear her ask the questions that I answer!

Also, Together was reviewed on MacApper last week and that seems favourable too.

I must be doing something right. 🙂

A few people have asked how they can import their browser bookmarks as folders and files into Together. Together doesn’t have direct support for this yet, but there is a pretty easy workaround.

If you’re using Safari:

• Show your bookmarks in Safari (Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks from the menu).
• Drag the bookmark folders you want to import to the Finder.
• Drag the folders from the Finder to Together.

You can also drag bookmarks (but not folders of bookmarks) from Safari directly to Together.

Note that when dragging folders from Safari to the Finder, it might take a moment for each folder to be created and you won’t see a copy progress bar.

If you don’t use Safari, you can export the bookmarks from just about any browser (and del.icio.us) as an HTML file and import this into Safari. Safari will create a folder named “imported [date and time]” which you can then drag to the Finder, as described above.

Together’s use of Quick Look previews are really handy, allowing you to see preview documents you wouldn’t normally be able to see without opening another application or using the Finder.

As you may know, any delevoper can create a Quick Look generator for their file format, or in the case of this one, for a generic format not covered by Leopard’s built-in generators.

A developer, known as xdd, and a designer, Taiyo, created a Quick Look generator for ZIP files, which will also work in Together.

This is the great thing about Together now – any file you can preview with Quick Look, you can also view in Together. I think it is the only non-Apple app to show previews in its own interface right now.

Note: The ability to automatically import files added to Together’s library folders was added in Together 2.1 – See Together 2.1 – New Ways to Import for more information.

I’ve had a few requests for watched folders in Together, the idea being that you can save a file in a folder and it is automatically imported into Together.

This approach will also work well for scanned documents and the good news is you don’t have to wait for me to clear my email deluge and get back to some development, you can do this with a little Automator. Here’s how:

Any file opened in Together will automatically be added to the library, so all you need is a simple Automator workflow, with one action in it, like this:

Here’s one you can download: OpenInTogether.zip (26KB)

To use it:

• Uncompress the file and open it in Automator.
• Choose File > Save As Plug-in from the menu.
• From the “Plug-in for” pop-up choose “Folder Actions”
• From the “Attached to Folder” pop-up, choose the folder to watch.
• Click Save.

After that, any files saved or moved into that watched folder will then be imported into Together.