No icon preview for eps-files in Monterey

Hasn't worked for me, the other users work around worked for me straight away though, just renaming the .eps extension to .ai and the thumbnail shows up straight away and opens as it should in Photoshop etc.

Hi there,

Here is a working solution

1. Download Quicklook EPS Generator Big Sur version from here : Quicklook EPS
2. Unzip it
3. Open your home folder Hard Drive/Users and locate the Library
4. Locate the folder named QuickLook or create one if the folder is not there
5. Copy EPS.qlgenerator in that Folder
6. Open the Terminal and type the following code : sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine add a space after the last "e"
7. Drag and and drop the EPS.qlgenerator in the Terminal window
8. Hit Enter on your keyboard
9. Type in your session password and hit Enter again
10. Logout and login

EPS preview should work now

macOS Monterey is missing the generator needed to do this. It used to be in `/System/Library/Quicklook` as `EPS.qlgenerator`. Sadly, you can't just copy it over from an existing Catalina installation (I don't have a BigSur handy to try that), as that keeps crashing. Btw. you'd have to put it into `~/Library/Quicklook` as `/System` is not writeable anymore.

I can only assume that Apple had some issues with the generator and thus removed it.

I saw in another post that changing the .eps to .ai can fix icon previews. I was able to use this https://osxdaily.com/2016/11/08/batch-change-file-extensions-mac/ to batch change the extensions. This worked for me.

I was having the same issue with missing preview icons, I did what flamingo life suggested; that is, I logged out, restarted, and when I signed back in all my icons were there! Thanks flamingo!

I've never had an issue opening EPS files or previewing them, it's just been getting the thumbnail to show in finder/folders.

But the way AndroIL90 said has worked for me, basically rename all .eps to .ai, and now all my EPS thumbnails show and open in Photoshop as they should.

(thanks again AndroIL90)

Johnny R. wrote:

does the Quicklook generators handle the icon previews also?

Yes.

The best solution would be to download some 3rd party app that includes a QuickLook generator for EPS files.

Johnny R. wrote:

There's also a guy posting a free app solution, but he is not allowed to share any links to it because of Apples Communities policies. You have to google "etresoft" and send him an email and he will share his own EPS viewer with QuickLook preview. Did that but haven't received any answers yet. Here's the discussion: https://origin-discussions2-jp.apple.com/en/thread/253448931?page=1

I've answered all the e-mails I've received. But I haven't gotten very many.

Also note that this restriction only applies to me because I wrote the tool. Anyone else who has the link can post it.

Etresoft (who wrote earlier in this thread) was kind enough to share with me the app he created that enables Quicklook for EPS files. It does Quicklook (the preview when you press the space key) but doesn't generate the icon thumbnails. Here's the link, in case anyone else would like to use it:

https://etresoft.org/download/EPSView.zip

Instructions from Etresoft: The QuickLook plug-in is inside the app. All you need to do is copy the app to Applications and run it once. After that, QuickLook in the Finder should start working for EPS files. If it doesn't work at first then try restarting your machine.

Hmmm, I think maybe you need to install Adobe Bridge (free) to get that Illustrator.qlgenerator file. I'm not sure if I have that file because I've had Adobe Illustrator installed in the past or because I have Adobe Bridge installed currently.

Kurthis wrote:

That's pretty much it for now :D

You missed one penny. The problem is easily solved with a 3rd party app that can display EPS previews. I didn't know of any specific ones that did display EPS previews and didn't want to try to search for one. I also just happened to need an EPS previewer myself at the time. It was far easier to just write a new app and post it on a website for free. Unfortunately, the rules of the forum forbid me from posting a link to it. A couple of other people have posted the link. Hopefully someone else can add it here. There is no prohibition on posting a link to someone else's app.

And yes, I totally understand how it is Apple that caused this problem. Apple provided a free EPS quicklook plugin. With that plug-in built into the operating system, there is absolutely no reason for any 3rd party too to provide their own plugin. Then, for whatever reason, Apple removed its plug-in. No there is nothing. This is not an unusual scenario when something is provided for free. But arguments over who is to blame are a waste of everyone's time. I don't recommend hacking up system plist files.

only work around so far is to rename all .eps extensions with .ai

I was having this issue on all of my .ai files as well. I found a solution that helped: I went into `~/Library/Quicklook` and/or `~User/Library/Quicklook` and found an old EPS Quicklook Plugin in there that I trashed. After that, my QuickLook started working again on AI files. Then I went to `~User/Library/Quicklook` and trashed my DropboxQL.qlgenerator and my AI thumbnails started reappearing! Still no luck on the EPS files but it's a start.