Quick View Plus

Viewer/VFS Plugins
1

Quick View Plus (QVP) from Avantstar is a product which can view hundreds of file formats without the need for any additional software. For example, it can display Microsoft Word or Corel Word Perfect documents without having either program installed.

Newer versions of Quick View Plus include preview handlers that work within Outlook, File Explorer and Internet Explorer. Such preview handlers and IE-plugins should also work within Opus. (We have tested that they work correctly together with Opus using QVP version 11, but we have not tested newer versions.)

Once Quick View Plus Standard (or higher) is installed, you should find its viewing abilities available within File Explorer and Directory Opus.

Notes & Caveats (updated August 2018):

  • As QVP is not our (GPSoftware's) product, and we aren't involved in its production or sale, we can't make any guarantees and suggest you confirm details with Avantstar if needed.
  • Windows XP: Quick View Plus 11 does not install its preview handler on Windows XP; however, the DLLs it installs seem to work with the Opus MultiView plugin. (It's really time to stop using Windows XP, however!)
  • As of QVP 2017, pricing for QuickView is now quite high at $99 per year. This may mean it only makes sense for business users.
  • Older versions were priced differently, but unfortunately may not install on newer versions of Windows. For example, QVP 11 works on Windows 7 but refuses to install on Windows 10.
  • We have only tested Quick View Plus 11 Standard ourselves. We haven't tested newer versions. Support for integration with File Explorer, Outlook and Internet Explorer was still advertised on the product's web site (last checked: 08-Aug-2018) so we would expect it to still work in Directory Opus, unless they are allowing some processes and blocking others, or their website is incorrect. Note: We have had two people say AvantStar told them that QVP no longer supports integration into File Explorer, and in turn Opus, but some more recently have said it's working fine with Opus (see reply from 2020 below for one example).
  • QVP editions: Quick View Plus 11 came in two editions, Standard and Professional. The Standard edition is all you needed to view files within Directory Opus, at least with QVP 11. (It's possible newer versions only come in one edition, based on the pricing and website now.)
  • QVP Trial version: Trial versions of QVP may not install/enable the QVP preview handlers, and so may not let you test how well the QVP viewers integrate into File Explorer or Directory Opus. The trial version may only be good for testing how well the individual document formats are handled using the standalone QVP application, with purchase of the full version required to test integration with other software. This seems to have changed back & forth over the years, so may vary.

(Thanks to Michael Kenward, Jon Potter, Plunder and Avantstar themselves for their help discovering the info above. Thanks also to Ron Hirsch whose quest for a way to view Word Perfect files in 64-bit Opus led us here.)

win7_64bit_opus9_qvp
win7_64bit_opus9_qvp1280×1024 531 KB

3

Sounds like you have a Winzip preview handler installed which is being used instead of QVP. Go into the ActiveX plugin configuration and move the .rar extension from that to QVP.

6

Trial version, or did you buy QVP? The trial version didn't work properly last time I tested it.

If you bought QVP:

10

QuickView Plus provides a preview handler for the viewer pane, not thumbnails for the file display.

12

You should get thumbnails if you install Adobe Reader. Any version after 8.

I say "should" because some people have problems even with that installed.

If it is there already, run a "Repair" on it.

A quick search of this place for PDF and thumbnail should reveal several earlier discussions of this issue.

13

I purchased and installed Quick View Plus 11.0.0 Standard Edition on my Windows 7 (64-bit) computer so I would be able to view WordPerfect (WPD) files. Works fine for WPD, except QVP also took control when viewing text (TXT) files. How can I use the Viewer Plugins within Opus to configure it so TXT files are viewed as before rather than using QVP, which causes a slight delay.

I know I can right-click when viewing and select Use Plugin / Text. But I want it to default to the Text plugin instead of QVP.

----- SOLVED -----

While writing the above question, I found the solution.

  1. Go into the Plugin Manager
  2. Highlight "ActiveX + Preview + Office + Web" and click "Configure"
  3. Scroll down to Quick View Plus (32-bit) and select QVP
  4. On the right, scroll down to ".txt" and click "Remove"

That fixed my problem - maybe it will help others.

14

@MK: I had Acrobat CS5 already installed, but some days later Reader X update came along, and now the thumbnails for AI and PDF are working fine. For some reason the previous version of Reader (which had been installed prior to the CS5 suite) wasn't producing thumbs. Perhaps some interaction with Acrobat itself? Who knows. IAC, I'm very relieved that it works now.

Allen

15

The relationship between PDF thumbnails, Windows and Adobe is built on magic.

There is no science involved.

Here and in other places people have seen truly mystic behaviour in getting this to work.

Reinstalling and repairing often help. But you may have to do this several times.

But all of a sudden things can change yet again.

This behaviour afflicts people who have never heard of Opus: so I think we can safely conclude that it is an innocent bystander.

16

I can say no more.

My lips are sealed.

ac

20

Quick View Plus users who experience trouble with the display of certain file extensions can updatecould test the corresponding viewer *.DLL with the most current version taken from the Oracle original redistributable package. QVP11.0.0 is based on the Oracle Outside In Technology Downloads : Viewer Technology 8.3.2 (vw-8-3-2-win-x86-32.zip, vw-8-3-2-win-x86-64.zip) which was released in September 2009.

The current version at the time of writing available thru the Oracle website is v8.3.7, released in July 2011. Before you can download from Oracle, you must register (it's FREE) and then click on accept the "Accept License Agreement". Since the screenshot demonstrates that all vs*.DLL files of the original Oracle package are unchanged in the QVP installation (and please feel free to do your own synchronization with Dopus, or use Beyond Compare (BC3) for a folder comparison, you can safelycould overwrite the older vs*.dll files (v8.3.2) with the newer vs*.dll files (v8.3.7) for testing purposes. Safe or not, I've tested it and it works great!

In fact, to save time, you cancould even take the entire set of files \redist\*.* (from the download *.zip, 32-bit vs. 64-bit package) and copy it to the QVP program folder, i.e. C:\Program Files\Quick View Plus\Program\., thus overwriting and updating all same-named files. Doing so, newly supported file formats (such as AutoCAD 2010, in v8.3.7) probably wont preview in the Dopus viewer pane ... I couldnt test this because i dont own any AutoCAD 2010 files :smiley:

As an old TotalCommander user I noticed the resemblance between its uLister freeware plugin supporting 500+ file formats and Quick View Plus 11 supporting 300+ file formats, that's how i found out about all this :thumbsup: (There too, TC users can keep their viewer *.DLL's current by overwriting them with the latest Oracle files.)

The merit of the Avantstar development team is to provide a standalone GUI (qvp32.exe, qvp64.exe) and to guarantee that the "Oracle-published DLL's" interact flawlessly with the application *.exe. In QVP version 11.0 Avantstar guarantees that 300+ (of the 500+) file formats supported by the "Oracle-published DLL's" are viewed fine in the Quick View Plus GUI, and it is safe to assume that in far future some more of the remaining ~200 file formats are viewable/previewable in the Quick View Plus GUI.

Thanks to Avantstar for writing the *.exe but above all thanks a million to Oracle for publishing the sv*.dll files!!!

[...]
Another no-nonsense post brought to you by plunder the t**** :wink:
For more kick my **tt posts, see links in my signature, thanks.

21

Thanks for all this useful info!

The link for v8.3.7 is a screenshot, but one can easily edit the URL for v8.3.2 and get to the same place. If you don't have an Oracle account, then you can get to the latest download by following the Download instructions on Oracle's site.

I tried your suggestion to just copy \redist\*.* to QVP's Program folder, and everything seems to be working fine in Dopus.

I recommend making a copy of the QVP Program folder before overwriting all the DLLs, of course. If the stand-alone QVP has been running, then QVP may still be resident in memory, which will prevent some of the DLLs from being overwritten. To resolve this, you can open the Task Manager, and kill the qv... task.

Finally, having overwritten everything as described, I now find that the QVP stand-alone app doesn't want to run, throwing a QVP32.exe application error. This is perhaps due to my having overwritten everything with the 64-bit DLLs. Since I don't use the stand-alone, it's a non-issue, but it might be worth testing with the 32-bit DLL set if the stand-alone QVP is needed.

Allen

22

Plunder, is there a changelog for the newer DLLs?

Personally, I would stick with the versions that Avantstar have tested together with the rest of QVP unless there is some compelling reason to get the newer versions. (If there is, I wonder why Avantstar don't update their distribution?)

Creating an Oracle account and messing around with DLL versions different to the ones the original QVP code expects might be worth it if it gives you new/improved functionality, but not if it only gives you a higher version number. (This is more so for people using the preview handler than the multiview plugin.)

...Actually...

Never mind all that, what you're suggesting is against the terms of licence that you have to agree to to download the files from Oracle. The downloads are only for developers to test/evaluate against:

LICENSE RIGHTS
We grant you a nonexclusive, nontransferable limited license to use the programs only for the purpose of developing, testing, prototyping and demonstrating your application, and not for any other purpose

23

I have QVP version 11 (registered). I have never been able to view rar files--I thought that was normal until I saw plunder's screen shots. Activex is the only viewer I have enabled, and the rar extension is only set under Quickview.

24

I am wondering too why Avantstar hasnt updated to the latest Oracle distribution yet. It is still some good info and very instructional to know, see, and test the origin of the *.DLL's included in Avantstar's distribution. I will call Oracle on the phone and ask if it's okay if i test their new DLL's this way during the 30-day test period of Quick View Plus 11 Trial Edition, so please stay tuned :sunglasses:

EDIT: i've called Oracle on the phone (Darren) and they stated that any original OTN software (which falls under the standard license) is good for educational and non-production purposes, i.e. as long as the downloader uses it at home for his own sake of testing, education, developing, etc. He said that any private individual who downloads OTN files and plays with them at home for such non-production purposes may do so and may even call himself/herself a developer in righteous full claim in accordance with the license. In other words, overwriting the old Oracle files with new ones and testing it is fine as long as you dont sell that to your friend (e.g. titled as an "updated working QVP11 software product"). hope this helps.

@fooney
the Dopus screenshot is taken from a test on a Win7 64-bit system. If you're on a 32-bit system, then you should have downloaded and extracted the 32-bit zip package :unamused: lol

@sfuller
On both 32-bit and 64-bit vanilla win7 the RAR preview works fine here on the test systems (and i am on my way to buy the full version of QVP11). The QVP-Dopus preview handler (in win7) is responsible for the RAR quickview powered by the Oracle file vsrar.dll. Maybe your vsrar.dll needs a test overwrite with a newer version? I would re-install Windows 7 from scratch (takes 15mins. only!) to make sure that ..etc..

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After reseting viewer plugins in Do 10 to the defaults I was able to finally see rar files in QVP 11--even thought no conflifts were evident. I didn't realize there was a 64-bit version on QVP before your post. I purchased version 11 in 4/10--just about the time they released the 64-bit version. I called--sounded like they were going to send me a download link. Will keep everyone posted.

26

well, I wouldnt wonder if, after following this thread, Avantstar includes a phrase/sentence/subclause in their own (not Oracle's!) License Agreement for their next updated release (e.g. QVP 12.0.0) that overwriting the installed files (and then using QVP12 for production purposes) violates Avantstar's Terms of Use. As stated, Oracle doesnt mind if the private individual tinkers with Oracle files for testing purposes (That's why the files are public and free. Anyone who calls himself/herself a "developer (in a wide, broad sense)" is free to download and use OTN software accordingly and responsibly.) but Avantstar might well do so: mind it. To give this sensitive subject some peace and if everybody agrees, i/we will stop mentioning Oracle from now on until further news.

@sfuller
when you get your new 64-bit copy of QVP11, please revise the (updated?) Avantstar Terms of Use carefully and let us know how things work out for you, on your 64-bit system, thanks.

27

I'm in the same boat. I bought the 32-bit version of QVP 11 before the 64-bit version became available, and before I installed a 64-bit version of Windows 7.

Over many years of owning QVP, I have found their regime for updates and "patches" to be poor. There are rarely updates between versions. Maybe they get them right first time.

However, in the rare cases when they do have an update, I have received an email with a password protected link to the software.

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FWIW, the 32 bit QVP seemed to work fine for viewing files, in and out of Opus, on a 64 bit Win7 system when I tried it before the 64 bit version was made.

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And as with other software, it seems, installing a 64-bit version of QVP may mean that it breaks the ability to view other stuff that is 32-bit.

For example, I have just started beta testing software that comes in 32-bit and 64-bit flavours. On installation it detected that I have the 32-bit version of Outlook 2010 – Microsoft suggests using this version unless you have a pressing need for the few benefits that come in 64-bit Office, such as the ability to use mind bogglingly large Excel spreadsheets. The beta software then warned that it would not work with 32-bit Outlook and installed the 32-bit version on my 64-bit machine.

The beta software also uses the Stellent (QuickView) viewers, but I have no idea if this is why it opted to install the 32-bit version on my PC.

30

Avantstar sent me the download link for the 64-bit version, but I can't get it to work in Opus 10.0.2.4269x64. The viewers work through the QVP interface. I've tried everything I can think of in Opus. It see QV, because "Quick View Plus" is listed under ActiveX + Preview instead of Quick View Plus (32-bit)".

--unchecking all other viewers
--directing Multiview to QVP.
--trying Multiview instead of ActiveX and vice versa

Any ideas?