Where has the instant alpha tool in Preview gone?

urbanSeb wrote:

I've used the instant alpha tool in Preview whenever I wanted to get a transparent background for my .png files. Today I found out the tool has vanished.

Running Mojave 10.14.5 currently. It has not been on the previews update either. What's going on apple? Please don't leave us in the dark!!!

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/a06ee6d4-89fd-4563-8ec9-b19dc1284105

That does not look like an image edit bar in Preview. It looks like a PDF —you are not going to find the instant alpha tool for a PDF.

png

The following is from the Preview Help file:

You can extract part of an image. For example, you can extract one person’s face from a group photo and then paste the face elsewhere.

If an image’s background consists of areas that are mainly the same color, you can also remove the background.

Open Preview for me

Extract an image

1 - In the Preview app on your Mac, if the Markup toolbar isn’t showing, click the Show Markup Toolbar button , click the Selection Tools menu , then select the Smart Lasso tool .

2 - Trace the edge of the image you want to extract.

3 - Make sure the image’s edge is within the thick border that appears as you trace.

4 - Connect the end of the border back to its beginning, or stop dragging to connect the border in a straight line back to the beginning.

5 - Do one of the following:

• To copy the image so that you can paste it in a document, choose Edit > Copy.

• To remove everything outside of your selection, click Crop or choose Edit > Invert Selection, then press Delete.