File Identification
To help you understand more about the files you open, File Viewer Plus provides a File Information panel that displays file properties and metadata for each file you open. When File Viewer Plus cannot open a file, it still provides helpful information, including where to go to read more about you file.
File Information Panel
To view information about your files, open the File Information panel by clicking the File Info button in the Home tab of the ribbon. The panel displays to the left of your file, and you can click the File Info button again to hide the panel. Examples of file properties that are shown include the file size, last modified date, and location on your computer. Examples of metadata include EXIF data for images, including digital photos and camera raw files, codecs for audio and video files, and author and source information for documents.
Below are descriptions for the different sections shown in the File Information panel:
- File Information: Technical information about the file, including the file type, size, and when it was last modified. This information is similar to what you see when you view file properties in Windows.
- Document Information: This displays metadata about the specific file type. Different types of files will show different kinds of metadata. Images, for example, will show EXIF data and other metadata if available. Multimedia files will display codecs, track information, and other media information.
- FileInfo.com Information: File Viewer Plus is linked to the FileInfo.com database, which provides information about thousands of different file types. If the file extension (e.g., .DOCX, .PDF, .JPG etc.) matches a file extension from the FileInfo.com database, then this section displays matching file types. Note that there are some file extensions that have multiple file types. For example, a .DAT file could be one of several different types. If you would like to read more about the file type, click the View at FileInfo.com button.
Lastly, you can export the information from the left file information panel to a text file by choosing File → Export File Info... from the program menu.
Opening Unsupported Files
File Viewer Plus can open over 400 different types of files, but it cannot view every type of file. In the case where it cannot view a file, the software provides helpful actions as well as resources where you can go to find out more about your file.
File Viewer Plus displays four buttons in the top-right section:
- Inspect file contents: opens the File Inspector
- Open with a different app: allows you to try and open the file with another app on your computer
- View supported file types: opens a window displaying all of File Viewer Plus' 400+ supported file types
- Learn about .ods files: opens FileInfo.com where you can read more about this file type
In the bottom right-section of the window, File Viewer Plus identifies the type of the file by matching its contents against a database of file type signatures, as well as matching its file extension against a database of file extensions. This information helps you understand what kind of file it is, which is helpful in particular when opening unknown files. The matches that are displayed are the most likely matches for your file. Therefore, while the matches are typically quite good, it is possible that the the file type is not identified correctly.