Supporting third party file formats

To index files created by some third party applications, or files using a third party file format, you need to install a Spotlight metadata importer. Some applications are bundled with such an importer, so you just need to install these applications to the Applications folder. But you may instead have to install a standalone Spotlight metadata importer (a file with with a .mdimporter filename extension) to the folder /Library/Spotlight.

Similarly, to preview files created by some third party applications, or files using a third party file format, you need to install a Quick Look plugin (either a Quick Look generator, or a Quick Look extension). Without such a plugin, you will only see a plain text version of the found files. Some applications are bundled with such a plugin, so you just need to install these applications to the Applications folder. But you may instead have to install a standalone Quick Look generator (a file with with a . qlgenerator filename extension) to the folder /Library/QuickLook.

Note that the modern architecture, Quick Look extensions (.appex), that require macOS 10.15 or later, don't allow FoxTrot to highlight found words. So by default FoxTrot will prefer displaying a plain text version, for file types that have a Quick Look extension. You can toggle between plain text and Quick Look from the Display Type toolbar popup menu.

The legacy architecture, Quick Look generators (.qlgenerator), allow FoxTrot to highlight found words.

Here are some third party Spotlight or Quick Look plugins for some common file formats. Please contact us if you know some other ones that should be listed here.