Preview doesnt let me create pdfs since catalina

I don’t understand how it is different for you than it was before. You can take many images and print to pdf in one go. You can also take pdf files and add, remove and reorder pages. What exactly is not working?

On 2019-10-25 I spoke to Apple upper level tech support and was told this is a known issue and Apple is working on a fix. Here is the best workaround I've found that has worked for me -- I had this same issue appear for me after installing Catalina on my iMac:

Option1 - Even though you are not trying to actually print anything out, if you only have 1 printer, try this -- just deleting and adding your printer back (in Sys Prefs>Printers) will get rid of the bug causing the issue -- this fixed the issue for me. Now try "save as PDF."

Options 2 - A workaround is to go up to the Preview "File" menu and select "Export as PDF" but note that this reduces the final file size considerably (from a 100MB file of 23 images to 4MB) - so if you need it to remain a high quality image, do not use this.

Option 3 - When the print dialog is open in Preview, if I select a different printer from my list (even though I'm going to Save as PDF), then it worked fine with no issues. I only have 2 printers in my dialogue box, a Canon and an Epson - but only the Canon is "on" and in regular use, so I selected the Epson which was not even turned "on" and then did the Save As PDF and it worked. Which lead to me think maybe even though I'm not printing, that somehow my Canon printer, (which works just fine as a printer), maybe the printer's driver is causing some issue - so, I deleted this printer (in Sys Prefs>Printers) and added it back in (there were 2 options for this printer - a Canon series or Canon Bonjour - I selected the Bonjour driver option and attempted to do what I initially had issues with.

Hope this helps

Let me try to detail the process:

Screenshot many pictures

Select all screenshots on desktop, right click and choose Open With Preview

Choose Print > Save as PDF (bottom left of the print menu) > name the file and Save to desktop

Normally this should create one single PDF with multiple pages with the individual pictures.

However, since the update to Catalina, it gives the error already mentioned and shown on previous posts.

So no PDF created.

If I instead of printing we choose "Export as PDF" this will convert just the selected one picture out of all (2, 5 10, no matter how many) to PDF.

In my line of work, I can have the need to convert dozens of pictures to one pdf at the time, multiple times a day, so this not working is a major issue.

Hope this helps clarify.

Thanks

I was really praying that option 3 would help me, but this has not fixed the issue.

My current line of thought:

On the last 3 OS release, every time I updated OS directly I've encountered issues. Most of these were only fixable with a clean install of the OS (format, usb pen with most recent os version, fresh install everything, go to Time Machine get all my files, etc).

Seems this will be my last option. But bearing in mind this is a work computer, the idea of re sync Gmail, dropbox, etc just makes me shiver. I can't waste a full day getting everything setup again.

Thanks anyway for your help.

I think option 3 will only help if you add the printer with a non-vendor driver and then make that printer the selected printer in the print dialog.

A very quick test is to add a fake printer using the Generic PS ppd:

AddPrinter -> Select the IP tab, enter 1.2.3.4 in the Address field, select Generic PostScript Printer in the Use menu, and then Add. Then switch to this printer in the Preview print dialog and try your save as pdf again.

If this doesn't work, then this is a different problem than the known saving to PDF with vendor drivers.

Hope this helps.

Did you also try deleting the printer in Sys Prefs>Printers and adding it back? or try the suggestion from the Jblanchard who said to try this: add a fake printer using the Generic PS ppd: AddPrinter -> Select the IP tab, enter 1.2.3.4 in the Address field, select Generic PostScript Printer in the Use menu, and then Add. Then switch to this printer in the Preview print dialog and try your save as pdf again.

Yes, deleted the printer, re-installed with new Canon drivers, no joy. And re-tried with previous drivers and still nothing.

I've noticed that if i restart the computer, it will work fine the first time. All other tries after will not work. Restart it again, will work well once, and not work the next attempts.

My next test will be Jblanchard's suggestion, but I'm starting to think this is not related to printers &/or drivers.

Hi Community,

I had the exact same problem here. Brandnew MacBook pro 16" with Catalina 10.15.1. My complete workflow depends on the "Save as PDF". My solutions was to delete the installed Printer (in my case a HP Laserjet 100)...and yes it work´s again for me!!!

Thanks everyone for your inputs!

It's insanity that after 2 Catalina updates this glaring problem is still not solved. That being said, here is a workaround:

1) Open System Preferences

2) Open Printers & Scanners

3) Under the list of printers on the left, click the + symbol to add a printer

4) Click the IP tab at the top left

5) Fill in the window with these value:

Address: 127.0.0.1

Protocol: Select "AirPrint" from the dropdown menu

Queue: Leave blank

Name: Choose a name of your choice. I recommend "PDF Printer"

Location: Leave blank

Use: Select "AirPrint" from the dropdown menu

6) You will get a pop up saying "Unable to verify printer on your network. Would you still like to create the printer?" Click Continue

7) Open the file(s) in Preview that you wish to save as a PDF.

8) Click File, Print, then select the printer you just added ("PDF Printer"), then select Save As PDF

Ridiculous that we have to go through all of this to maintain a basic function of Preview, but this works.

The new **** security model really sucks. The problem here is that you can't save in a place protected by the new security system such as anything under Documents. Putting Preview into the list of applications with full disk access does not help.

A workaround is to save somewhere not protected, such as your home folder. Then use Finder to move the file where you really want it.

Or maybe the answer is to move all of your documents out of the Documents folder to avoid the new security system.

Deleting my printer worked for me.

This is a users' forum, so Apple won't see this. You can use the feedback page:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

Same here. How does something like this slip through the cracks?!? My ability to work is basically at a standstill until this is fixed.

A Catalina update has been released, Version 10:15. This has solved the preview print problems for me. However I still can't open locked PDFs in preview.

I spoke to soon. I still can't print JPGs into PDFs using Preview. I still can't open locked PDFs at all in Preview. Apple, this is basic stuff we need fixed.