PDF and JPG files won't open in Preview Macbook Pro 2021

twak33 wrote:

Very interesting/frustrating, this is ALL my JPG files (32,000) will not open in Preview. This happened when I migrated from an old Macbook Pro to this new one.

These jpg files will import into Lightroom and I can work on them and save them to disk, yet the will not open in Preview???

Even my external drives which have pdf and jpg files will not open in Preview.

To trouble shoot further you can:

—Try a SafeBoot https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262

Takes noticeable longer to get to the login screen, does a 5 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. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

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. 

Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

all known to cause issues on the macOS

I am using a new 16-inch M1 Pro with 32GB RAM and presently, macOS 12.0.1. I have absolutely no issue opening PDFs, images, and Microsoft documents in Preview, some of which are ten years, or older. The PDFs are generated in a variety of tools including one from 2008 done in Framemaker on Solaris. All of these also open using the Finder's Quick Look.

There may be an issue with your Launch Services database which can be resolved by booting into Safe Boot Mode on the M1 Pro/Max. See that link for the different procedure for an M1 processor. It would be a good idea to verify via a Get Info on your PDF and JPG images that their default opening application is Preview too.

Has one set another Third Party Application as the Default Application to open JPG or / and PDF files ?

What happens when one tries to open a JPG or PDF ?

Excel files are not a Native File format of macOS and for sure is not a Native files format or Preview.

Excel files are native to Microsoft Office or some other Application that understands Excel files.

Though - some Excel files an be opened in the Native Apple " Numbers " Application if it is installed on this computer.

It is probably an issue with the files format and not the Application itself ?

Every JPG and / or PDF I come across can open in Preview. And I have 100s of each

As for excel files - I do not use Excel from MS or any other Application that natively understand Excel files - I can import them into Numbers and it work for may needs.

twak33 wrote:

My problem has been resolved, thanks to the helpful suggestions.

Resolved how? What was the issue in the end...

Guessing here but suspect the files were all manipulated in photoshop and some how the meta data was altered or file format was changed just enough to make Preview not work ?