CAN NO LONGER SAVE RESOLUTION CHANGES IN PREVIEW SINCE BIG SUR UPDATE!!!

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CAN NO LONGER SAVE RESOLUTION CHANGES IN PREVIEW SINCE BIG SUR UPDATE!!!

Yea, this is terrible. Open in Preview, change resolution from 72 pixels per inch to 600 pixels per inch, save to PNG (or JPEG etc), and then... simply reverts back to 72 pixels per inch. No change saved. Image then obviously very grainy and once initially saved at that resolution, it's useless! Obviously just bad coding in Big Sur. You'd think Apple would be on top of this wouldn't you? Very unprofessional. Someone posted a similar complaint back in November and still nothing done about it.

Can anyone suggest a simple alternative to Preview that will allow me to successfully change the resolution on the initial save?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.1

Posted on Jan 5, 2021 12:29 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

VikingOSX

Community+ 2024

Level 10

116,387 points

Jan 5, 2021 5:12 AM in response to Jack_888

Another alternative would be to create your design as an original 600 dpi vector image in Affinity Designer, and then save that directly to a 600 dpi PNG from the application. There is a free trial of Affinity Designer (also in the Mac App Store) to see what a difference the right tool makes in generating high resolution artwork.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

124,601 points

Jan 5, 2021 12:43 AM in response to Jack_888

FWIW, it makes no sense to convert a lower resolution image to a higher one. It would be like converting a 1 ppi image into a 10000 ppi image. You still have a 1x1 image.

In any case, you could use something like GraphicConverter 11.

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Answer 3

Jack_888 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 5, 2021 2:08 AM in response to dialabrain

Thanks, I will check out GraphicConverter 11.

However, I think you have missed the point I was making. Before Big Sur, I would take a constructed image/design in Pages, then print > open in Preview, and save as PNG 600 pixels per inch. Perfect! Results crisp and clear, no pixelation.

Since Big Sur, I select print from Pages > open in Preview (image looks perfect on initial opening of file; showing as PDF), but then I see the default save setting as 72 pixels per inch, so I change this to 600 before saving as PNG. It registers the 600 in the box, but then once saved I check the size and the 600 didn't actually register for the save; it shows as 72 pixels per inch, and the saved image is obviously very pixelated. Do you see? My old Preview before Big Sur used to show as 600 pixels as default, but if it needed changing, Preview did register the change. It no longer saves in the resolution requested! I am not the only person in discussions that has made this complaint so I know I am not going mad.

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Answer 4

dialabrain

Level 10

124,601 points

Jan 5, 2021 5:29 AM in response to Jack_888

Jack_888 wrote:

However, I think you have missed the point I was making.

FWIW, I definitely missed the point you were making since you didn't explaain what you were trying to do or mention Pages, etc.

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Answer 5

Jack_888 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 5, 2021 7:22 AM in response to VikingOSX

Fantastic! Thanks so much for that info. I was just looking at Affinity Designer, because it has got so many positive reviews. The free trial now gives me no excuse to check it out. Thanks for the link - very helpful.

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Answer 6

Jack_888 Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 5, 2021 9:59 AM in response to VikingOSX

Just to let you know VikingOSX, I have downloaded the trial version of Affinity Designer as you suggested, and it offered an immediate and fast workaround for the current problem with Preview not saving initial resolution changes. Thank you so much! I will be purchasing that software just for that capability of being able to change Pages documents to PNG! I will then also have a highly recommended design tool to investigate also. Hopefully, in the meantime, Apple will correct the Preview error as well. Thanks again for your advice!

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Answer 7

Jan 5, 2021 10:16 AM in response to Jack_888

You are welcome.

If you purchase Affinity Designer from the Mac App Store, future updates will appear in the Mac App Store Updates panel. If directly from Affinity, the application will alert you to available updates, and install them for you. Affinity has several training videos and content available for the product. Don't overlook their forum.

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