Navigate through photos in Quick Preview mode

As you work with photos in the Browser and Viewer, you can set Aperture to display JPEG representations of the photos called previews. Because the preview’s file size is smaller than that of the original photo, Aperture can display the photo more quickly. For example, the thumbnails in the Browser are preview representations of the originals, reduced to thumbnail size.

Likewise, when you select a photo in the Viewer, Aperture first displays a preview photo as it reads the larger original on disk. It then displays the full original after the image is decoded. This process of displaying the previews and then the originals can be nearly instantaneous, or, depending on the size of your originals, there can be a short delay in the final display.

For more information about creating and working with previews, see Preview images overview.

To speed up the access and display of photos, you can turn on Quick Preview mode. In Quick Preview mode, Aperture displays preview photos only, without reading the larger originals. You can use Quick Preview mode to rapidly move to and select different photos. For example, you might use Quick Preview mode to quickly select and stack photos, add keywords, or change other metadata. When using Quick Preview mode, however, there are some things you can’t do, such as make adjustments to photos. In Quick Preview mode, tools and functions that aren’t available appear dimmed. Depending on your task, you may find switching to Quick Preview mode a great way to gain speedy access to photos.