User profile for user: andreasgr
andreasgr Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Preview Commands Grayed Out

The commands in the daughter menus of the Tools > Mark Up and Tools > Annotate commands in Preview are always grayed out.

This does not change, regardless of tool selected or whether a portion of the image has been highlighted or not.

It does not matter whether a JPEG or a PNG image is the current file opened.

Similarly, the "Select" and "Annotate" buttons do not work. Clicking on the "Select" button has no effect, and the "Annotate" button is stuck on the elliptical shape and does not drop down, either.

This was precipitated I think by Mac OS X 10.5.6. It was an update on my MacBook, and it came pre-installed in my iMac. Both macs exhibit this problem since 10.5.6.

iMac 3.06GHz (2009), Mac OS X (10.5.6), 4 FW HDs, Miglia Diva speakers, EPSON Scanner, Xerox Phaser

Posted on Apr 11, 2009 2:22 AM

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9 replies
User profile for user: iBod
iBod
User level: Level 7
29,351 points

Apr 11, 2009 4:30 PM in response to andreasgr

It does not matter whether a JPEG or a PNG image is the current file opened.


Is it only these formats that don't allow you to annotate? To be honest, I would not expect to be able to annotate a image file, but rather a PDF file instead.

I'm on 10.4, but the preview help only discusses annotation with respect to PDF files. Check your preview help but I'd imagine 10.5 is the same.
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User profile for user: Ashka
Ashka
User level: Level 4
3,891 points

Apr 11, 2009 4:43 PM in response to iBod

Hi iBod,
Yes you can annotate any graphics in Leopards preview.

Click and hold the Annotate button > select note > draw text box with curser > change the font and colour under menu bar tools, you need to as it is Helvetica size 36 Red by default. Drag text box to where you want it.
Rectangles, circles and arrows work too, all default red till changed under tools > Color.
S.
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User profile for user: nerowolfe
nerowolfe
User level: Level 6
13,090 points

Apr 11, 2009 4:44 PM in response to andreasgr

I just tried it on several pdf files.
On some, the text markup is not an option - presumably the "text" is not really text but a graphic. On those documents the markup options are grayed out as in yours.
On other pdf docs which clearly have text, if I select a line of text and then choose tools->Mark Up, the options are not grayed out.
I think it's a matter of whether the "text" to be marked up is actually text or a graphic image of text, which is not the same thing.

I can Mark Up this document
http://www.airage.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=DocumentLibrary&mod=Document+ Library&mid=F63A887E53AA4AE99D3D1A5E0544D20C&tier=3&id=5CAB20F7549348D6B775CB484 17846D2
Right-click download and try it.

Message was edited by: nerowolfe
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User profile for user: andreasgr
andreasgr Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Apr 11, 2009 4:49 PM in response to Ashka

Thank you all for your input.

Here are my findings:

Yes, it's PNGs and JPEGs I had the problem with. The confusion arose because of two reasons, both attributable to a sloppy interface:

1) As Rob Griffiths pinted out in the MacWorld article, the commands in the daughter menu: Tools > Annotate >... are inexplicably grayed-out.

2) Even if you add the "Select" button in the Preview toolbar, if you click on it, nothing happens. In other words, no menu drops down. That's because you have to CLICK AND HOLD!!!

The last time the mac had non-sticky menus was what, 10 years ago? Or was it even more than that? Well, here you have it, folks— a ghost from the past: A non-sticky menu if you click (and hold) on the "Select" button on the Preview toolbar.

Unbelievable...
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