Modern Quick Look extensions to preview FreeCAD *.FCStd files in Finder.
This replaces the legacy qlgenerator and uses current macOS APIs to show the
PNG thumbnail embedded in FreeCAD documents.
- Quick Look preview (press Space) shows the embedded
Thumbnail.png. - Finder thumbnails use the same embedded image.
Quick Look preview:
Finder thumbnails:
- Open the project in Xcode.
- Select the
FreeCAD Companiontarget and build/run (⌘R) to test. - To install for all users:
- Archive (Product > Archive), export the app, and move it to
/Applications.
- Archive (Product > Archive), export the app, and move it to
- Launch the app once to register the extension.
- If thumbnails or previews do not appear, refresh Quick Look:
qlmanage -r
killall Finder
Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Extensions > Quick Look and enable
FreeCAD Companion.
- A
.FCStdfile is a ZIP archive. The extension opens the archive, extractsThumbnail.png, and renders that image for previews and thumbnails. - No model parsing — only the embedded PNG is used.
For best results, configure FreeCAD to save a larger thumbnail (256×256 or 512×512): Edit > Preferences > General > Document → Thumbnail size.
- Ensure
FreeCAD Companionis enabled in System Settings. - Run
qlmanage -rto reload Quick Look plugins. - Verify your
.FCStdfiles containThumbnail.png(check FreeCAD thumbnail settings).
This project aims to provide a native, future-proof preview experience and is
intended for integration into FreeCAD. Licensed under MIT — see LICENSE.

