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This is bizarre: for some reason, when I open the Adjust Color panel in Catalina Preview (with, say, a JPEG file), the Histogram is missing - it's just whited out:
I have no idea what might have changed on my system or what is causing this.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thank you!
Hans D. wrote:
This is bizarre: for some reason, when I open the Adjust Color panel in Catalina Preview (with, say, a JPEG file), the Histogram is missing - it's just whited out:
https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/49417297-1b4e-4972-bf7e-c9eb06881afa
I have no idea what might have changed on my system or what is causing this.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thank you!
Old issue, new issue, what changed to precipitate the problem?
How does this affect your workflow..
Verify your macOS is up to date.
Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/Anti-Virus/VPN
You can troubleshoot further or reinstall the macOS on top of your existing macOS to sort anomalies.
How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904
troubleshoot :
—Try a SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262
Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5-15 minute disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc.
Login and test. Reboot as normal and test as caches get rebuilt.
In Safe mode third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled, it removes malware, etc hampering smooth operation, however a reboot will put it back to normal mode.
This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.
—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-other-users-on-your-mac-mtusr001/mac
This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account.
Hans D. wrote:
This is bizarre: for some reason, when I open the Adjust Color panel in Catalina Preview (with, say, a JPEG file), the Histogram is missing - it's just whited out:
https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/49417297-1b4e-4972-bf7e-c9eb06881afa
I have no idea what might have changed on my system or what is causing this.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thank you!
Old issue, new issue, what changed to precipitate the problem?
How does this affect your workflow..
Verify your macOS is up to date.
Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/Anti-Virus/VPN
You can troubleshoot further or reinstall the macOS on top of your existing macOS to sort anomalies.
How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904
troubleshoot :
—Try a SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262
Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5-15 minute disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, etc.
Login and test. Reboot as normal and test as caches get rebuilt.
In Safe mode third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled, it removes malware, etc hampering smooth operation, however a reboot will put it back to normal mode.
This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.
—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-other-users-on-your-mac-mtusr001/mac
This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account.
I agree: I would expect the histogram to be a component somewhere, not a fixed part of the preview application.
When I open the Preview package, all the files in it are from 2020, some June, some October, so pretty old. So anything that was updated, breaking the histogram function, would need to be from 2021.
Perhaps this covers it: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/accelerate/histogram
It would really help to know which component is being used in Preview and where else it may be used (to cross-check).
Hi, thanks for replying so quickly.
macOS is up to date, I don't have the mentioned 3rd party apps.
I tried with a different account - the histogram was missing.
I restarted in safe mode - the histogram was still missing.
I have now reinstalled Catalina, the histogram is back. I use it frequently to touch up the exposure of photos, so I'm very happy.
Thank you for your recommendations.
BR Nick
Hans, I have the same problem with preview. I am on Catalina 10;15.7 and no 3th paty apps installed. Can you tell me what type of Catalina reinstall solved your problem? Is it a clean install or how did you manage?
Thanks for a reply.
Hi RogierDG,
well, I'm glad I'm not the only one experiencing this very odd issue.
I did a non-destructive OS reinstallation. You do this by restarting your Mac and holding down CMD-R until the recovery mode menu pops up. This only works for Macs with Intel processors (for M1, you'll have to look up the procedure).
On the menu, you'll find the option to reinstall MacOS - that is the route I went.
The process should be non-destructive, i.e. besides having to re-enter your iCloud password after the installation, nothing should disappear. Please have a backup secured anyway!
That apparently re-installed whatever component was missing or defective and now the histogram works as expected.
Hello Hans, I did a non-destructive reinstallation of Catalina and indeed the histogram in Preview is back. However software updates requested me to reinstall the Catalina security update 2021-002 (this is odd, because i expected the downloaded Catalina version to include the latest updates). After completing the security update again, the problem is back. Preview does not show the histogram anymore.
It seems to be a bug induced by the latest Catalina security update. I do not expect Apple to fix this because they focus on BigSur now. Could anybody in the community check if the problem persists in BigSur?
So I am not going to reinstall Catalina again (takes more than one hour) and do without the histogram for the time being, or use the Photo App.
I have exactly the same problem, i.e. after installing Catalina security update 2021-002 the Histogram is just whited out. Hovewer the histogram can still be used "blindly" as the triangle adjusters can be dragged right and left to adjust the image accordingly. You just do not see any histogram curve as a reference for making adjustments!
Very annoying!
It's a really strange problem. I have no idea what I installed or changed, but just a few days ago, the histogram once again disappeared. Today, I was offered to update to Catalina Security Update 003, which I did. Didn't fix this issue, though.
It isn't worth my time to go through the entire reinstallation process again, but it certainly doesn't make me feel secure in working on the machine...
I have a copy of Preview application (same version number) from pre Catalina security update 2021-002. Using this version of Preview gives the same result, i.e. histogram is whited out! My conclusion is tha the histogram-whiteout-problem must be related to Preview-linked files rather than the application components themselves.
was missing screenshot, now edited into the original post
Thanks Hans, I will first take a full backup and then reinstall as you did. I will post the result later
Histogram missing in Catalina Preview
