Preview App freezing while scanning

Question

Preview App freezing while scanning

Recently, I have been having difficulty with Preview 5.5.2 freezing while scanning from an HP Officejet 6500. I have been using the same arrangement (iMac, HP Printer, internet connection, etc.) for about 5 months with no problems. I scan documents for archiving, but in the past week, or so, when I try to open the scanner (printer) within the Preview App (file-->Import From Scanner-->HP OfficeJet 6500) the import window pops open, but I cannot select scanning details. Usually, I would do this by clicking the "Overview" button. Now, when I click the "Overview" button, I get a blank import screen.

Through reviewing the various online resources, I have done the following:

- Library (get info) - In the Library Info window (right click...get info) all the users are set to "Read & Write".

- Library (containers) - I trashed all the contents of the "com.apple.Preview" and "com.apple.TextEdit" folders within the "Containers" folder. Upon reboot, no noticable change, although the information in the folder was reloaded.

- Library (preferences) - Trashed the Preview preferences, rebooted, then tried to scan again. When I launched Preview, I was able to see the "Overview" details and select scan, but the scan froze on page 3 out of a 10 page doc.

Any suggestions? Thx

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4), Preview App 5.5.2

Posted on May 21, 2012 2:22 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

PAHU

Level 6

16,705 points

May 21, 2012 5:40 PM in response to socalbeancounter

Preview uses the Image Capture application for scanning. So making changes to Preview files is probably not the right course of action.

Image Capture uses ICA drivers and these are typically installed in Library > Image Capture > Devices. If you have a HP package listed here you could trash it. But before you do that, open Print & Scan and remove the HP scanner entry. It there is no separate scanner entry for the HP and it is part of the printer entry, then remove this Print/Scan proxy first and then trash the HP package in the Devices folder. Now you can select to add the OfficeJet 6500 in Print & Scan again - this should download and install the supporting scanner driver. Then open Image Capture and see if you can scan.

If there is no HP package in the Devices folder then it could mean that HP uses its own folders. Do you have a HP folder in Applications? And does HP provide its own scanning utility?

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Answer 2

May 25, 2012 8:11 AM in response to PAHU

Thanks for the guidance. I don't have an "Image Capture" folder in the Library. Do you know how I can install or download this file? I did uninstall the HP printer package, then re-install through the Software Update function, but this did not solve the problem. I do see that before I uninstalled the printer, it was in a folder in the Applications folder, but after re-install there is not an HP folder. Not a big deal, because I do have the install disk to re-install the entire package. When I open the Image Capture app I get the same blank screen as noted above.

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Answer 3

May 25, 2012 10:41 AM in response to socalbeancounter

PAHU...I re-installed the HP software package and this solved the problem. Thanks for your help.

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Answer 4

itbj55

Level 1

0 points

Jul 12, 2012 2:08 PM in response to socalbeancounter

Reinstalling latest HP driver for Officejet 5500A Plus (HP_Lion_Ink_SW_v12-1.13.18) did not fix scanner stalls for me using Preview 5.5.2 under Lion 10.7.4.

Scanner would scan two pages only, then Preview would stop respondng and require a force quit. This behavior started for me in July 2012, after many months of proper behavior scanning long documents.

My workaround is to run the "Image Capture" application and scan directly from there. It accepts many pages of scanning without complaint while attempting the same scan under Preview fails after two pages. Why is a mystery.

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Answer 5

lihkin

Level 1

4 points

Jul 23, 2012 1:16 PM in response to itbj55

I have the exact same problem as itbj55, with a Brother MFC-7340. Maybe a recent update has changed the way Preview works?

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Answer 6

Aug 24, 2012 12:34 PM in response to lihkin

I was having the same problem with my brother mfc 9840. From the Brother website, I downloaded a firmware update, the printer driver, and the twain driver. After I installed all of those, Preview scanned multiple pages without a problem

-Robin

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Answer 7

Sep 1, 2012 1:44 PM in response to Robin Cravey

I posted that answer prematurely. Preview worked once or twice, and then went back to freezing after a page or two. However, I discovered that my printer will scan directly to a flash drive, and all is well since then.

-Robin

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Answer 8

Sep 24, 2012 5:36 PM in response to itbj55

I am having the exact same problem with my Epson printer/scanner so I'm assuming its a problem with the preview app. I agree with lihkin, I think an update might be needed.

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