Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

4 points

Preview of JPG files do not preview

Hi,
I am having a problem with my jpg files. Regardless of the view I use (coverflow, list, etc.), when I choose the jpg file, no preview of the jpg image appears. For example, when I am using coverflow, pressing the spacebar yields no image...only a black background with a thin line down the center (which I am guessing is suppose to be the jpg image).

This is very annoying! To view the image, I have to open it in the Preview Application. What is causing this, and what is the fix?
Thank you,
FMW

macbook pro, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Nov 28, 2009 7:22 PM

34 replies

PBICS

Level 1

0 points

Jan 8, 2010 12:12 PM in response to Tom Nash

Same here - 10.6 Server.

Where is the com.apple.preview.plist file found?

fmwhelp Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 10, 2010 12:45 PM in response to PBICS

Hello,
the file is located in:
user/library/preferences

PS: I have not yet tried this fix. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Thanks,
FMW

fmwhelp Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 10, 2010 12:57 PM in response to iGary

iGary,
Tried the trick. Sorry to report it did not do the trick for me.

BTW, what are plist files? I have over 4 thousand of these.
Thanks and have a good day.

Jan 11, 2010 10:25 AM in response to PBICS

It's a major bug in Snow Leopard. I've discouraged many from installing it, until they get the bug fixed. Preview can't be used like it used to be. In fact it now has almost no use at all. One step back to the old acrobat and photoshop. Tsk tsk, Apple.

Tom Nash

Level 1

25 points

Jan 11, 2010 10:28 AM in response to wayne mitzner

Has anyone else here checked iphoto? Not only can I not view jpg's in Preview but iphoto won't display any photos but only the small preview/thumbnail. As soon as you click edit or double click the photo, I receive a blank window just like in Preview.

fmwhelp Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 23, 2010 7:54 PM in response to K T

Hello,
I never did receive an answer that would render my question "solved" so what I found:

I had ~78 pictures in a file that I had taken with my camera phone. Most pix would not show in the quick view...only a black background with a thin line down the center (x-ref my original post).
Other pix did appear in quick view. So, I looked at the files, sorted them and discovered that the ones that would not appear in quick view had no "date created"; that column had "---" for all the photos that were not showing up in quick view.

I copied those pix and imported to iPhoto. Copied from iPhoto back to my original folder. Guess what? With the exception of 2 photos that refuse to appear with quick view, the others--~ 75 pix--do show up in quick view. They now all have the same "date created", which happens to be yesterday, but that doesn't matter.

Check to make sure your photos have "date created" since that apparently was my problem. Why? I don't know what difference it makes to quick view, but somehow it must.

Thank you,
FMW

fmwhelp Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 23, 2010 7:57 PM in response to Webbman4

See my post dated today, January 23, 2010 (fmwhelp).
Hope that helps.

Jan 28, 2010 11:52 AM in response to fmwhelp

I'm having the same problem, on a brand new Mac Book Pro running 10.6.2. Jpegs won't show in preview. For now I'm opening in Firefox.

Tom Nash

Level 1

25 points

Jan 28, 2010 12:00 PM in response to amendment13

Hey Amendment13

Could you check to see if any imported pics into iphoto (in jpg format) are also having the same problem. My entire iphoto library of jpegs aren't viewable. So no Preview and iPhoto viewing of jpgs.

Jan 28, 2010 12:15 PM in response to amendment13

When i had this problem, i ended up calling Apple, and they had me delete several preference files. That fixed it. I don't recall all of them, but they must have a number of people with this problem, since they knew exactly what to do.

Judy

Level 4

2,312 points

Jan 28, 2010 9:35 PM in response to iGary

Move ~/Library/Application Support/Preview/PDFIndex4.sk to the desktop

It worked for me. Also, I put it back, and Preview is still working so far.

I deleted com.apple.preview.plist, but that did not fix anything.

gmasch

Level 1

0 points

Feb 8, 2010 10:55 AM in response to Judy

Symptom: jpegs opened in Preview 5.0.1 result in blank window, but Sidebar thumbnails are fine.

Neither of the previous suggestions is possible for me, since I cannot find "/Library/Application Support/Preview/PDFIndex4.sk" (or com.apple.preview.plist, for that matter) anywhere on my iMac. My Application Support folder does not contain a Preview folder at all. This seems a bit odd, but who knows? I just did the upgrade to Snow Leopard last week, and have had to upgrad a few other things that broke (Canon scanner driver, etc.)

So the question really is this "does Apple intend to fix this with a new version of Preview, and if so when? I have ver. 5.0.1 - Is there a newer one that I missed?

Feb 8, 2010 11:08 AM in response to gmasch

there are 2 Library files, one in the main hard drive directory, and the other in your user library --
users/"your name"/library/application support/preview/PDFindex4.sk.
Also, delete the com.apple.Preview.plist, located at - users/"your name"/library/preferences/com.apple.Preview.plist.

then restart the computer.

Tom Nash

Level 1

25 points

Feb 25, 2010 11:06 AM in response to wayne mitzner

I also don't have a application support/preview in my user or root librarys. No PDFindex4 on my system. Maybe Mac Server 10.6 doesn't have this? Maybe this is the problem. Who knows but still doesn't work for me either.

Tom Nash

Level 1

25 points

Feb 27, 2010 6:59 AM in response to Tom Nash

Got on the phone with apple support and they had me do a fix permissions with disk utility. Problem solved.

Preview of JPG files do not preview