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 (or 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 plugin (a file with with a . qlgenerator filename extension) to the folder /Library/QuickLook.

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.