Best macOS Alternative for IrfanView Graphic Viewer/Image Editor

[MacInWin]

I am wary of Photos because it seems connected to iCloud and exhibits iTune-ish behavior, using scary words like "Import" and "Sync," which implies that it creates duplicate copies of my images in a separate location and wastes disk space (not to mention creating additional maintenance work). This is a nightmare that I went through with iTunes and my MP3s back in the day and don't even want to experience again. Whether it actually does all those things or not, I'm not sure, but it did give me a small heart attack when I opened it and it said "Imported," and I quit the app promptly. All I'm trying to do is view a few images directly from Finder. I don't need any importing or copying.

Photos has two ways of "importing" the images. One is to copy the file with the image into the library that Photos creates. The images are stored in a type of database internal to Photos. Then edits are also stored and applied. When the user opens a modified image, the original is opened and all of the edits applied in order, then the image is displayed. The second way of "import" is to leave the original image wherever it is and only store that location in the Photos database. Then, when the user opens Photos and selects an image, the original file is loaded, the edits applied and then displayed to the user. That approach works as long as the user doesn't move or edit the originals outside of Photos.

Sync is simply a process where Photos can, if the user wants, coordinate through iCloud to have all associated devices have the same images. It's not mandatory and not all devices have to sync. But the data does flow through iCloud for the sync, so most of us that use it also store copies of the images in iCloud as well, as a sort of backup in case we lose a device through a failure of some sort. All of that is optional.

That said, your goal was

All I'm trying to do is view a few images directly from Finder. I don't need any importing or copying.

That is dead easy. It's called Quick View and is achieved from Finder by clicking once on the image file, then press the space bar. An image of whatever is in the file will appear. Another space bar press makes it go away. You can move through a folder of images with the arrow keys quickly.

Finder also has the Gallery view, where the files are in a line along the bottom of a window and as each one reaches the middle of the line, it is shown in the top of the window, as large as the window will allow. Again, arrow keys move from side to side and show the images, or whatever is in the file, in the space.

So, no need for any third party products to do what you want.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I downloaded version 3 of Xee and loved it until I saw that it fails to display about 1/3 of my images correctly and displays a "TV static" screen instead. Has that been your experience as well? It's a real shame because the app seemed perfect.

Yep, that has exactly been my experience. If you liked it otherwise, and don't mind paying a few bucks, I can very heartily recommend EdgeView 3. It's wicked fast and hasn't failed me on anything yet. I had to tweak a couple settings to eliminate some slight lagginess. Mainly I turned off the animation transition and had it display a "normal" image first.

 

[Kalico]

Hi RadDave !!

Appreciate the insight !! Guess I’m going to explore and learn Preview !!

How did you fair? I have to say that I've given Preview my best (worked in IT for 30+ years) and I decelare that Irfanview is the cat's pyjamas compared to this crappy Preview thing. I feel like screaming at this Macbook to stop trying to stop me doing stuff!

 

[Slydude]

What kinds of things are you trying to do that you cannot do with Preview. Some things it can do are not obvious but can be done relatively quickly with the correct information.

 

[Mietz]

I must admit I am totally dumbfounded by the suggestions to use Preview as a replacement for IrfanView. Preview does not allow you to do to things that are essential for quickly reviewing and sorting a collection of photo files, which Windows users take for granted:

1. Using the left and right arrows on the keyboard to go to the previous/next photo.
2. Using the Delete/Backspace key (or at least the Del key) to quickly send blurry, duplicate or otherwise unwanted photos to Trash.

Of course, if Preview does have those functions, then I am obviously not using this app correctly. But I am still in week 1 of my transition from Windows to Mac, and this is definitely one of the pain points.

I totally agree. I just made the transition to a Mac from Windows and I miss IrfanView. It's a very light program. I can click on the first photo in a folder and then just scroll through the rest, all flicking by fast. I hope I find a good alternative in the Mac world...

 

[Slydude]

The Mac has a QuickLook feature that might be just what you need. See this post in another thread.

Once you identify an unwanted photo with QuickLook, I think pressing Command and Delete simultaneously will move the picture to the trash.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I totally agree. I just made the transition to a Mac from Windows and I miss IrfanView. It's a very light program. I can click on the first photo in a folder and then just scroll through the rest, all flicking by fast. I hope I find a good alternative in the Mac world...

EdgeView 3. I mentioned it earlier. Trust me on this one. They unfortunately do not have a free trial since it's on the App Store, but if you want an idea of how well it will work, I suggest downloading the free trial of Xee³. This was my favorite for years and the closest counterpart I could find for a long time to the Classic ACDSee on Windows. Now, I absolutely DO NOT recommend sticking with Xee³. It is very buggy today and even though it saw an update this pst December, it basically has been abandoned. But give the trial a whirl. If it's to your liking, then EdgeView 3 absolutely will be too. Refer to my prior post about a couple tweaks to optimize using it for fast scrolling through images.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

The Mac has a QuickLook feature that might be just what you need. See this post in another thread.

Once you identify an unwanted photo with QuickLook, I think pressing Command and Delete simultaneously will move the picture to the trash.

The problem with QuickLook is that if you want to pan through a folder of images quickly, well it just starts to choke after a few images. Also, navigating through a folder is awkward since using the arrow keys doesn't go straight in alphabetical order, or any alternative sorting really. You are actually navigating through Finder, and if you are in icon view, well pressing down arrow goes only down through the column you are in, not the entire folder contents. And you can't do anything akin to a slideshow. Even if you switch to List view so you can use the down arrow to go straight through the folder contents, if you hold it down, it jumps erratically. QuickLook is fine to quickly look at a single image or two, but for quickly panning through a high volume of images, it's really awful.

 

[Slydude]

You're right about some of the issues with QuickLook and folders with a large number of files. I find though that moving through a set of pictures with the down arrow does not seem to be as erratic as it has been for you.

For me QuickLook bogs down a bit when I preview/play large audio/video files. but I expect that because some of these files are well over a GB.

I'm sure there are better alternatives out there but this is not something I do a lot of, particularly with pictures, so QuickLook works well for mw.

 

[twistkill]

Hi. Just got my first Mac a few weeks back and I have felt like throwing it into the wall multiple times, every day. Lots of disgruntled ex-windows users here, same as me! Good thing, that Apple made it out of one single block of aluminum.

So here is what I use Irfanview for-

1. Click on any image in a folder/desktop, it opens, use arrow key to sift thru all the all the images - deleting, renaming, sharpening, resizing, etc along the way.
2. Using hotkeys to resize, crop, flip, sharpen, go fullscreen, move, copy to other folders- basically use hotkeys for almost everything.
3. Draw a rectangle and crop, cut, copy parts of an image.
4. Use resample function to resize images
5. Batch convert, rename, resize, etc. all the images in a folder at once.

As you can see, Irfanview is, foremost, an image viewer with a bunch of editor functions built in. And I am not even going near plugins, file compatibility, EXIF editor, etc - those kinds of functionalities.

But can anyone recommend me an app that does what I use Irfanview for? I understand most of the features are probably in "pro-features" category, so finding a like for like free alternative is unlikely. Please don't say that Finder can do #1, Preview can do #2, Photos can do #5! Even Windows can do that part by part. But is there even a reasonably priced app out there that does what Irfanview does? Free would be a bonus, as I am starting to realize during my few weeks with a Mac.

 

[Pomeroy]

What you are asking for came on your Mac. Use Preview, I keep it on the dock and if I want to see all the images in a folder I just drag the folder to the dock and drop on Preview. The images will all show it the side bar. There you can use the arrow keys. If the images aren't showing in Previews Side bar use the View menu to select Thumbnails. Select 1 or more images and you can Batch resize, crop and edit them. You can rename them one at a time but not in batches. Last time I used Irfanview it didn't batch rename either. To rename batches of files select them in Finder and Right click and you will see Rename. You may also be missing Save AS in some apps, Hold the Option button when you click on File.

 

[Kalico]

Hi. Just got my first Mac a few weeks back and I have felt like throwing it into the wall multiple times, every day. Lots of disgruntled ex-windows users here, same as me! Good thing, that Apple made it out of one single block of aluminum.

So here is what I use Irfanview for-

1. Click on any image in a folder/desktop, it opens, use arrow key to sift thru all the all the images - deleting, renaming, sharpening, resizing, etc along the way.
2. Using hotkeys to resize, crop, flip, sharpen, go fullscreen, move, copy to other folders- basically use hotkeys for almost everything.
3. Draw a rectangle and crop, cut, copy parts of an image.
4. Use resample function to resize images
5. Batch convert, rename, resize, etc. all the images in a folder at once.

As you can see, Irfanview is, foremost, an image viewer with a bunch of editor functions built in. And I am not even going near plugins, file compatibility, EXIF editor, etc - those kinds of functionalities.

But can anyone recommend me an app that does what I use Irfanview for? I understand most of the features are probably in "pro-features" category, so finding a like for like free alternative is unlikely. Please don't say that Finder can do #1, Preview can do #2, Photos can do #5! Even Windows can do that part by part. But is there even a reasonably priced app out there that does what Irfanview does? Free would be a bonus, as I am starting to realize during my few weeks with a Mac.

Oh gosh, all of this! Irfanview rocks and there is nothing that I have been able to find that comes close on Mac. So sad. I've taken to e-mailing an image to my PC to edit in Windows and then send back. And trust me, I am a long, long way from a Windows fan-boy.

 

[Kalico]

What you are asking for came on your Mac. Use Preview, I keep it on the dock and if I want to see all the images in a folder I just drag the folder to the dock and drop on Preview. The images will all show it the side bar. There you can use the arrow keys. If the images aren't showing in Previews Side bar use the View menu to select Thumbnails. Select 1 or more images and you can Batch resize, crop and edit them. You can rename them one at a time but not in batches. Last time I used Irfanview it didn't batch rename either. To rename batches of files select them in Finder and Right click and you will see Rename. You may also be missing Save AS in some apps, Hold the Option button when you click on File.

Preview is what I use, but it's nowhere near in the league of Irfanview. Doing simple tasks in Preview is not easy and nothing in it is as intuitive (which is surprising, because Apple is supposed to be more user-intuitive).

 

[twistkill]

Aah, thanks @Kalico. To be fair, what I ask (or most IV users) is almost in paid software category. I still use a combination of Photoshop, Illustrator and XD on Mac and PC almost interchangeably without much issues. Its the minor programs that are the hard to find ones. I am sure there are some lurking somewhere, just not on app store.

 

[twistkill]

What you are asking for came on your Mac. Use Preview, I keep it on the dock and if I want to see all the images in a folder I just drag the folder to the dock and drop on Preview. The images will all show it the side bar. There you can use the arrow keys. If the images aren't showing in Previews Side bar use the View menu to select Thumbnails. Select 1 or more images and you can Batch resize, crop and edit them. You can rename them one at a time but not in batches. Last time I used Irfanview it didn't batch rename either. To rename batches of files select them in Finder and Right click and you will see Rename. You may also be missing Save AS in some apps, Hold the Option button when you click on File.

Nice! I like that folder drop trick. That solves quite a bit of my current holdups. Thanks!!

 

[RadDave]

@jmac0408 - I was on PCs for decades (until retirement - switch to Apple in 2010-2013) and used IrfanView for years and loved it - since my Apple switch, Preview has served my needs and is a powerful app (even has a book shown below, which is on my iPad); SO, agree w/ Charlie and no longer a need to 'long for' IrfanView - Dave

View attachment 30938

For the ones new to Apple wanting IrfanView, above is a post I left in this thread over 2 years ago - I was from the PC world and a BIG user of IrfanView and felt lost, BUT solved the problem by reading and learning about Preview (not just start trying to do things w/ no knowledge) - then I bought the inexpensive book shown above from the 'Take Control Books' website which was an 'eye-opener'; also checkout Apple's User Guide to the app. Preview has served most of my basic image editing needs; if not, then I use other paid apps on my Apple computers - if you're coming over to Apple's World then get use to the water. Dave

 

[Randy B. Singer]

But can anyone recommend me an app that does what I use Irfanview for?

Let me get this out of the way first. You are using a Macintosh now. It is going to be incredibly common to find that no Macintosh application is going to be EXACTLY like your most loved Windows application, and to be fair, no Windows application is going to be EXACTLY like your most loved Macintosh application. So you do your best and find one or more Macintosh applications that approxImate the functionality that you need. At that point you stop comparing the Mac and Windows, because one isn't the other.

Now, most of what you need to do is done by this application, which isn't free, but there is a free demo period. (In fact, you can use it entirely for free, forever, if you like, if you don't mind the nag screen delay on startup):

GraphicConverter $40

Lemke Software: GraphicConverter

www.lemkesoft.de

If you want something that is FREE, I've just downloaded and started to use this application, and so far it looks to be a winner:

LazPaint (free)

LazPaint: A Free & Open Source Paint.NET Alternative

Brief: LazPaint is an open-source Paint.NET alternative with cross-platform support. It is a lightweight program with a bunch of essential options to edit images quickly. Here’s an overview of LazPaint. LazPaint: Open Source Paint.NET Alternative for Linux If you are fond of...

itsfoss.com

Download LazPaint

lazpaint.github.io

 

[IWT]

Preview is what I use, but it's nowhere near in the league of Irfanview. Doing simple tasks in Preview is not easy and nothing in it is as intuitive (which is surprising, because Apple is supposed to be more user-intuitive).

@Kalico

These links may help you - or otherwise. Preview is a fairly powerful tool. And fairly easy. Has its limits, of course.

Preview User Guide for Mac

Learn how to use Preview on your Mac to work with and change image files and PDF documents.

support.apple.com

New to Mac? What’s Preview and what can you do with it?

If you’re new to Mac, then you’ll want to explore the Preview tool for your images and PDFs. Here’s what Preview on Mac is and what you can do with it.

www.idownloadblog.com

How to Get the Most Out of Apple's macOS Preview App

All of Apple's Macs come with Preview, a feature that's built into macOS. Preview is the default app that opens up whenever you view an image...

www.macrumors.com

Ian

 

[Valentin D.]

You brought up a two year old thread. The OP is probably happy with whatever solution that resulted. But the things you describe are available in Finder. It's call Quick View. Open Finder. Navigate to the folder with the images. Click on one, which one doesn't matter. Just click once to select it. Now press the space bar. Quickview open the image in a window. You can use the up/down arrow keys to select the previous/next item. Only images open as an image, but text files open as text, Word documents in a preview mode. Folder don't show anything. To delete, on the top bar click "File" then "Move to Trash." There are even some simple editing tools in Quick View. Oh, and videos start to play, so you can even preview them in Quick View.

There is also a view in Finder called "Gallery" that allows quick review of images. Click on this icon on the top bar of a Finder window:
View attachment 35654

It may also look like this, if your Finder window is large enough to have space on the top bar:
View attachment 35658

Select "Gallery." or select the far right icon that has a box with a line below it--that is Gallery mode. What results is a screen with the file content represented in the top window and a row of the items in the location across the bottom. You can expand the Finder window to as large as you need to see the images larger. For non-image files you get an icon for what they are (Folders, for example). For images, you get a thumbnail the size of the area you have allocated. To delete, right click and Move to Trash. No editing in Gallery, and videos don't automatically play, but you can see the content. To open a new folder that is on the bottom line, just double click on it. Basically, all of this is how Finder helps to view and manage files in macOS. Finder is a very powerful tool.

Tks for info!!! Finder is a very powerful tool.

 

[undy]

EdgeView 3. I mentioned it earlier. Trust me on this one. They unfortunately do not have a free trial since it's on the App Store, but if you want an idea of how well it will work, I suggest downloading the free trial of Xee³. This was my favorite for years and the closest counterpart I could find for a long time to the Classic ACDSee on Windows. Now, I absolutely DO NOT recommend sticking with Xee³. It is very buggy today and even though it saw an update this pst December, it basically has been abandoned. But give the trial a whirl. If it's to your liking, then EdgeView 3 absolutely will be too. Refer to my prior post about a couple tweaks to optimize using it for fast scrolling through images.

Before I buy it, can you confirm me if it allows to crop the images as easy as Irfanview?