Preview pane

Ctrl+Q or “View” → “Preview pane” shows and hides the pane; drag its edge to change its width. At the bottom of the pane is a summary: name, size, date, and shooting data, RAW files included. With several files selected, the summary shows how many there are and what the photos have in common: camera, ISO, aperture, shutter speed. With nothing selected, you see a summary of the open folder.

Images. Hold down the left mouse button to turn on the loupe. A large image shrinks to fit the pane; a small one isn't stretched. Ctrl+wheel zooms in steps (50, 100, 200 and 400%) around the point under the pointer, and the zoom stays without holding a button; scrolling further down shows the whole photo again. While the zoom changes, a minimap with a frame around the visible part appears in the top left corner. A RAW file opens instantly from its embedded preview, and the RAW button at the bottom turns on full development of the sensor data: the frame switches once development is done, and the mode stays on for the whole folder.

Buttons at the bottom of the pane turn on review helpers, including the histogram and the focus point .

Two photos side by side. Select two files and the pane splits in half: the photos go one above the other or side by side, whichever shows them larger. Each half has its own stars, label, sharpness, and histogram.

The loupe (left button held down) on one half shows the same spot on the other.
If you also hold down the right button while using the loupe, only the photo under the pointer moves; this is how you line up frames that are shifted.
With three or more selected, the pane shows the file added to the selection last, and the stars at the bottom apply to all of them.

Text and code. Ctrl+3 moves the keyboard to the pane:

select text and copy it with Ctrl+C;
Ctrl+F searches the text, a counter shows “3 of 17”, and Enter and Shift+Enter step through the matches;
Esc returns the keyboard to the files.

F3 and Shift+F3 step through the matches without leaving the files. For a long file, the pane shows the first megabyte, but matches beyond it are counted too: “N more later in the file”.

Video and music play in the built-in player with pause, seeking, repeat, and volume. The volume is shared by all files and is remembered between launches. Ctrl+3 moves the keyboard to the play button.

Below a video, a table shows what's inside the file: resolution, codec, HDR, frame rate, audio tracks with their language, subtitles, even for clips that Windows can't play.
Ctrl+wheel over the frame zooms the video 2× and 4× under the pointer, and the mouse moves the zoomed view around.
For music, you see the cover art, tags, and a line about the audio: codec, bitrate, sample rate, bit depth, channels.
If a file doesn't play, the pane names its codec, and if Windows is missing an extension from the Microsoft Store, the pane names the extension and a button opens its page in the Store.

Spreadsheets (CSV, TSV, Excel and OpenDocument) are shown as a grid, like in a spreadsheet app: sheets as tabs, columns as letters, rows as numbers; long text in a cell wraps. The </> button shows CSV and TSV as text.

3D models rotate with the mouse, and the wheel zooms in. Wander remembers a model you rotated: it opens the same way next time, and its thumbnail shows it the same way too.

File in use. If another program holds the file and it can't be read, the pane says so and names that program.

What the pane shows for each type is listed on the “Preview by type” page.