Preview no longer opens .ps or .eps files

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Level 1

8 points

Preview no longer opens .ps or .eps files

I did some cache cleaning and now Preview will no longer convert and open any .eps nor .ps file. I get “Postscript file conversion failed” warning every time, every file. Have tossed all com.apple.Preview… files/folders in ~/Library/Containers, Preferences, and Saved App…States folders. Created a simple box in Illustrator and saved as .eps file, and it won’t even open that. Am at a loss on what to do. Won’t work in Safe Mode. Replaced the Preview app package from another Mac also running High Sierra and made no difference. I am missing some support file for Preview to do the postscript to PDF conversion? I have found no discussions online that have the deep knowledge to fix this. Help.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Aug 31, 2020 11:12 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,202 points

Sep 1, 2020 11:35 AM in response to amigodeloso

Hopefully, you are using Time Machine to backup your Mac, as I suggest you doing that one last time before downloading and installing the macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Combo updater. This does not wipe your drive, should not touch your home folder, but will put anything missing from the 10.13.6 System installation back where it belongs. Then follow up with any Mac App Store Updates for 10.13.6 after this combo update is applied.

Once all of these are applied, then test the .eps and .ps files again.

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Answer 2

amigodeloso Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 2, 2020 3:39 PM in response to BDAqua

Finally fixed it with a Recovery Mode reinstall. Don’t know what else may not work now (that I need to re-setup because of the reinstall), but Preview nows views .ps and .eps files again. Thank you.

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Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,202 points

Sep 1, 2020 9:41 AM in response to amigodeloso

Select, and copy the following to the clipboard:

%!PS-Adobe-3.0

newpath
    270 360 moveto
    0 72 rlineto
    72 0 rlineto
    0 -72 rlineto
    -72 0 rlineto
    4 setlinewidth
stroke showpage

Launch the Terminal application, and on the command-line, enter the following ending with a return:

pbpaste > ~/Desktop/sample.ps

Now, in the Finder, double-click the sample.ps file on your Desktop. Does it open immediately in Preview? If it does not open in Preview, single-click that sample.ps file and press option+command+i. On that Get Information panel, there is an Open with section. What is the default opening application set too? If not Preview, then change to Preview and click through the Change All… button. Repeat the attempt to open the sample.ps in Preview.

If this fixes the issue, find a sample .eps file and repeat the previous paragraph to set its opening application to Preview.

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Answer 4

amigodeloso Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 2, 2020 3:34 PM in response to VikingOSX

Well, finally fixed it with a Recovery Mode reinstall. Don’t know how many other things might be broken now, but Preview now converts .ps and .eps to viewable PDFs now again. Thanks for all your help on this. I really appreciate hearing from someone that really knows what they are talking about. Best.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Sep 1, 2020 6:37 AM in response to amigodeloso

Do a Get info on a .ps or .eps file, what does it say don at Open With?

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Answer 6

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,202 points

Sep 1, 2020 10:20 AM in response to amigodeloso

From menu : About This Mac, what is the specific version of macOS that you are currently using?

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Sep 1, 2020 7:35 AM in response to amigodeloso

GraphicConverter also opens .ps & .eps files...

https://www.lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter/

http://www.lemkesoft.com/

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Answer 8

amigodeloso Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 1, 2020 8:57 AM in response to VikingOSX

Yeah, a lot more space was being taken up on my drive than there should have been—have no idea how much was “cleaned.”

I have never had an issue with Preview like this since they added the postscript conversion in OSX 10.4 Tiger?

Question: Will I have to reinstall High Sierra to get the PDFKit back to normal, or is there something else I can do?

Oh, and yes, I did reboot since I tried Safe Mode and then a regular boot.

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Answer 9

amigodeloso Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 1, 2020 10:06 AM in response to VikingOSX

Generated postscript file to Desktop via Terminal as instructed. When I Get Info on the file, it shows Open with: Preview (default). When I try to open “sample.ps” in Preview I get “PostScript file conversion failed.”

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Answer 10

amigodeloso Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 1, 2020 3:45 PM in response to VikingOSX

I am sorry to report that the Combo updater will not install. Warning message: “macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Update can’t be installed on the disk. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update.” I tried booting from my Carbon Copy Cloner external drive thinking if the internal drive wasn’t booted maybe it would work, but I got the same warning, on both the internal APFS Volume • APFS drive, as well as on the FireWire External Physical Volume • Mac OS Extended (Journaled) active system drive. Again, both the internal and external drives are 10.13.6.

I’m at a loss of what to do next. Thanks for your suggestions, though.

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Answer 11

amigodeloso Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 2, 2020 11:21 AM in response to VikingOSX

It says in the notes that a big part of this Combo updater is adding AirPlay 2 to the system. AirPlay is incompatible with my hardware so probably why I am getting the warnings and not allowing me perform installation.

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Answer 12

VikingOSX

Level 10

124,202 points

Sep 2, 2020 11:41 AM in response to amigodeloso

Since you were running 10.13.6 prior to running the 10.13.6 Combo updater, I don't see why it would now fail. AirPlay 2 would have to do with Bluetooth and those televisions that support AirPlay/AirPlay 2. Don't understand why this would not install for you now.

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Answer 13

amigodeloso Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 2, 2020 11:43 AM in response to BDAqua

The Graphic Converter Import/Export chart (found here: lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter/key-features/import-and-export-formats/) has a footnote that it requires Mac OS X 10.3.5 or later (systems using PDFKit.framework) or a helper like MacGhostview. Therefore, I assume that GC relies on PDFKit to do the conversion. So, if PDFKit isn’t working (as I’ve posted above), Graphic Converter will not work, either, unless utilizing a helper (e.g. MacGhostview). This comment is a little misleading given my circumstances.

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Answer 14

amigodeloso Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 2, 2020 11:56 AM in response to VikingOSX

I know, one would think it should work. But I always get yellow warning symbols on all my MacBook Pro boot drives with 10.13.6 saying “macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Update can’t be installed on this disk. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update.”

My Early 2011 MacBook Pro is the cutoff for being able to upgrade to Mojave, which I can’t. Maybe I’m in a gray area on this. Darn, I really was looking forward to your fix instead having to a total reinstall—which I may have to start with an older 10.13.x version and do updates to 10.13.6(?)

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Answer 15

amigodeloso Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 1, 2020 9:01 AM in response to BDAqua

Preview (Default)

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Preview no longer opens .ps or .eps files

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