jamesee

Q: Preview no longer recognises PDFs in Yosemite

Preview has suddenly stopped recognising PDFs on my MacBook Air using Yosemite.

 

If I try clicking on a PDF and selecting "Open with..."  Preview is  greyed out and not recognised as a recommended application for opening any pdf files. If I try enabling All Applications and choosing Preview then Preview will open but there is just a flicker on the screen and the file is not opened. More or less the same thing happens if I select File>GetInfo in the Finder.

 

PDFPenPro and other applications can open my PDFs so I think the files are OK - the problem is with Preview.

 

If I am working in (say) a Word document and select Print>Show PDF in Preview the screen just flickers and nothing happens.

 

Preview will open .png and other image files without problems.  It seems to be just pdfs that it won't recognise.

 

If I first open Preview and then look for .pdf files in the file chooser, the pdf files are shown in grey and won't open.

 

So far, I have tried using disk utility to repair permissions, and and reinstalling OS X Yosemite but the problem remains.

 

I have inspected the Console messages to try and find out what is going on.  When I drag a pdf onto the Preview icon in the dock I get messages like this

 

18/05/15 5:45:14.484 pm CoreServicesUIAgent[506]: Error -60005 creating authorization

 

Obviously something is wrong but I can't find any useful information about this error message.

 

If I try dragging a PDF file onto the Preview application icon in the Applications Folder nothing happens.

 

I feel as if there is a problem with a Preference file somewhere but I can't find anything that appears relevant.

 

Any advice welcome.  Thanks.

 

Jamesee

MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 17, 2015 11:01 PM

Close

Q: Preview no longer recognises PDFs in Yosemite

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by jamesee,

    jamesee jamesee May 18, 2015 2:38 PM in response to jamesee
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 18, 2015 2:38 PM in response to jamesee

    It must be something in my user profile.  I just tried logging on as "guest" and all works as it should.

  • by jamesee,Solvedanswer

    jamesee jamesee May 20, 2015 9:21 PM in response to jamesee
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 20, 2015 9:21 PM in response to jamesee

    Hurrah!  Problem solved!

     

    I set to work investigating how the Mac OS X associates files and their icons with the designated application.  I soon learned that this is handled by Launch Services and that sometimes the Launch Services's database can get corrupted.  This sounded very hopeful.

     

    http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/rebuild-launchservices-fix-duplicate-entries-os-xs-o pen-menu/

     

    This article showed me how to do it.


    To get started, close all open applications and then launch Terminal from Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities. Copy and paste the following command at the Terminal prompt and press Return to execute it:

     

     

    /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.fram ework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

     

    Terminal will appear to freeze for a few moments as the command is processed. When it’s finished, you’ll see a new prompt appear in the window. You can now close Terminal and head back to your Desktop. Find a file you need to access using the Open With menu and you’ll now see that things work as they should.  This also fixed the "Open PDF in Preview" item in the Print dialog.

  • by coxorange,

    coxorange coxorange Sep 20, 2015 8:53 AM in response to jamesee
    Level 1 (57 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 20, 2015 8:53 AM in response to jamesee

    Very helpful! Thanks for this!

    (... but why did it happen? And on my 3 Macs at the same time...?)

     

    (First I had asked here, but there was no solution.)

  • by coxorange,

    coxorange coxorange Sep 21, 2015 7:10 AM in response to jamesee
    Level 1 (57 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 21, 2015 7:10 AM in response to jamesee

    jamesee, how long did this solution work for you?

    In the meantime, do you know what caused the problem?

  • by jamesee,

    jamesee jamesee Mar 10, 2016 2:08 PM in response to coxorange
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 10, 2016 2:08 PM in response to coxorange

    Hi coxorange

     

    A rogue application was causing the problem, and corrupting the LaunchServices database.  The problem recurred each time that app was run, but the fix always worked.  I can't blame malware for this one (at least directly) because the app was one I had written myself.  Somehow that had become corrupted.  The problem is not unique to Yosemite.  It also occurs in ElCapitan.

     

    So if it's still happening for you, I suggest that you track down the offending application and either fix it or get rid of it.

     

    Good luck!!