Preview will only download PDF's to "Download" file---from whence it came!

Thanks, Viking,

It says Security: None. Hmmm.

However, I may have solved the problem.

I had a BUNCH of documents open in Preview (which I'm using in lieu of Adobe because of the superior editing features). I am researching something and tend to pile them up until I can read them all uninterrupted.

I tried quitting Preview dozens of times and it wouldn't quit.

But something clicked; because suddenly all of my open documents disappeared from my sidebar, and THEN I could Export as PDF in the usual manner to any file.

Of course, all of my reading for the day is now disappeared!

So this must have something to do with Preview's document capacity. Although I can't imagine how saving copies exclusively to Download would in any way help the system to avoid overload.

Is there a workaround so that I can continue to acquire and file documents but be able to actually read and annotate them later?

Thanks!

OK< I guess this is a helpful technique that works for you. By Back tick do you mean the left arrow?

I use Clean My Mac, and got no indication at any time I was running low on RAM.

My problem with using your method is that I need to label and file the document immediately so as not to lose it if I have a crash or power outage. However, I can't always remember where I filed (or that I filed) a document to try to get back to it when I have time to review in depth. So simply filing it away means that I may never find it again or remember to review it.

Any other ideas/suggestions?

Thanks,

OK, thanks again, this is helpful. I did have to consult my hubby as to the name of this key. He owns Font Lab and gave me some other official name (that I promptly forgot), but no matter. I will try this technique!

So, you introduced another new concept to me, that is "Spotlight".

From the icon on the System Preferences page it looks like this may be the same as the "search" window I find at the top right of "My Documents", or really any collection of files? So I have followed your advice to limit my selections based on most often used. Let's see if that helps me to find things.

After all, what good is a peripheral brain if you still have to use the full output of your internal brain to get what you want?

I am hopeful that with this combination of techniques, my problem may be solved.

And for others facing the same issue, the take home learning is probably some version of "don't pile up mass numbers of PDFs for future perusal using Preview. He is an old man, who may get cranky and refuse to cooperate further in your little scheme."

Thanks again, Viking for your help. My ancestors were Nordic (Swedes). Very dependable.