Review: Quick View Plus 10

It is inevitable that as a business increases its dealings with outside companies, especially those in different fields, the chance of incompatibilities when sharing files becomes greater. Different developers of software, version inconsistencies or specialized applications all make it difficult to open and view files transferred between organizations. The standard response to this problem is to purchase the native program for the offending file, but this creates other expenses and concerns, including license management and support resources.

With Avantstar's Quick View Plus, companies can purchase (and maintain) only the software they really need to use, while allowing their employees to view files produced by others. Recently released version 10 of Quick View Plus supports over 300 file formats, including those created for Windows, Macintosh, Internet, and even DOS. But besides being just another file viewer, Quick View Plus integrates itself into Windows and other highly used programs with some additional useful features under its hood.

Using a framed window, the program opens with a Windows Explorer-like tree directory structure. The second frame shows the sub-folders and files of the chosen volume/folder, while the third and largest frame displays the contents of the file selected.

Obviously, the main purpose of a file viewer application is to view files, and our Test Center reviewers found Quick View Plus lives up to that promise. It was able to almost instantaneously open every file type we threw at it. Word processor documents, spreadsheets, and images were all able to be viewed whether their native application was installed or not. If an installed application is associated with the file type, Quick View Plus will also display an icon that allows the user to open that program and edit the file.

With its capability to integrate into many email clients including Eudora, Lotus, and Outlook, Quick View Plus eliminates the danger of new viruses being unleashed by taking over as the default method for viewing e-mailed attachments. It can also integrate with most Web browsers, allowing the user to view files directly in the browser, instead of launching another application.

The program includes a search function that works with any file containing text, and can zoom and rotate all viewed files, as well as enlarge or reduce the font. It also gives the user the ability to browse previously viewed files by using left and right arrow buttons.

Additional features reviewers found useful from Quick View Plus are Quick Compress and Quick Print. The Quick Compress function enables a user to create ZIP files from a viewed file and add viewed files to an already existing ZIP file. Quick Print gives users the ability to print a file without viewing it. This feature considerably cuts down the time it takes to print a file, since no other application needs to be opened first. The program places options on the right-click menu so both of these functions can be used within Windows Explorer.

The program can even be used by third-party applications by allowing software publishers to access it via command-line, which requires a separate licensing agreement.

With a single user license price of $46, Quick View Plus 10 is much less expensive than any of the individual applications needed to open and view just one of the file types it supports. Although many developers offer free viewers for their specific file type, Quick View Plus 10 covers over 300 of them all in one program, thus eliminating potential compatibility problems, as well as streamlining training and support.