I have saved pdf files I now cannot open in Preview. I noticed that these files show a "turned down" corner in Finder. What dies the "turned down corner mean? How can I get rid of it by doing whatever is necessary to make it a "live file" again??
MacBook Pro (2020 and later)
In the Finder, there are files with a corner turn down, including MSWord files that will not open. But there are files that do not have a corner turn down and they open fine.
All document icons have had a turned down corner since the original Macintosh System software from over 30 years ago. If macOS can create an icon preview, that will sometimes remove that turned down corner in favor of showing the full preview. That is most common with image files. I did see that Powerpoint files remove that badge, but Excel files do not. While in the cloud, it cannot create an icon preview. Once you download the file, it can create an icon preview. So, every document in the cloud not downloaded will have the turned down corner. Some local files will have the turned down corner and some will not.
In the Finder, in column view, the files with the very large and obvious turndown corner as I posted above have an iCloud icon to the right with an arrow pointing down that seems to indicate that they need to be downloaded from the iCloud. I can click on a menu option next to the icon and select and click "Download now".
Yes, those are stored only in iCloud. Double-clicking should open them in the default app after they have been downloaded from iCloud.
Why, then, aren't they downloading to my MBP when I click on them in the finder?
I don't know. That's the way it should work.
Is there some kind of Finder confusion between the archives on my computer and the "actual" files stored in iCloud?
Well, the "archive" is not connected to iCloud at all. Those were files downloaded from iCloud when you signed out of iCloud. They are all "local" files that have no connection to iCloud.
In the Finder, there are files with a corner turn down, including MSWord files that will not open. But there are files that do not have a corner turn down and they open fine.
All document icons have had a turned down corner since the original Macintosh System software from over 30 years ago. If macOS can create an icon preview, that will sometimes remove that turned down corner in favor of showing the full preview. That is most common with image files. I did see that Powerpoint files remove that badge, but Excel files do not. While in the cloud, it cannot create an icon preview. Once you download the file, it can create an icon preview. So, every document in the cloud not downloaded will have the turned down corner. Some local files will have the turned down corner and some will not.
In the Finder, in column view, the files with the very large and obvious turndown corner as I posted above have an iCloud icon to the right with an arrow pointing down that seems to indicate that they need to be downloaded from the iCloud. I can click on a menu option next to the icon and select and click "Download now".
Yes, those are stored only in iCloud. Double-clicking should open them in the default app after they have been downloaded from iCloud.
Why, then, aren't they downloading to my MBP when I click on them in the finder?
I don't know. That's the way it should work.
Is there some kind of Finder confusion between the archives on my computer and the "actual" files stored in iCloud?
Well, the "archive" is not connected to iCloud at all. Those were files downloaded from iCloud when you signed out of iCloud. They are all "local" files that have no connection to iCloud.
More grist for the mill...
Looking around for how to use iCloud Files with the Finder on my new MBP Monterey 12.2.1.
It says:
===========
Work with iCloud Drive files offline
If you're about to go offline, you can download iCloud Drive files locally to work on while you're not connected to the internet.
On your Mac
=======================
But guess what? See the image that comes up when I do click on the iCloud Drive icon in the finder that show a download is in progress but not quite done. For all those files I'd been mucking around with to submit these issues here today, all those files I requested be downloaded somehow can't be. Here the screenshoot that doesn't even show all of the files that I'm trying to download to my computer.
I'm also trying to get some work done while dealing with these issues and have rearranged some files and folders stored/linked to my iCloud Drive in my MBP Finder, but none of those changed File and Folder locations and names are yet reflected in my iCloud files. (nope. Just double checked again.)
All documents have a "corner turn down." That indicates it is a document file. Image files, when showing the icon preview, are the only exception I can find.
What happens when you try to open it?
That very obvious image with the corner page turndown must mean something. I can find no way to uncover what it means. But this files exist in my iCloud and can be opened from there. My MBP, however, Cann't seem to access them.
I cannot find the location of the iCloud Status check that I used to be able to find in previous OS versions, so I do not know if there is some issue in my iCloud service, though I can access everything in my iCloud files directly from my browser.
I think I need to know the meaning of that Finder file image in Column view with the large corner turndown.
It's not just that one file. There are many many files stored in iCloud and showing in my Finder showing that same corner turndown status, so solving the generic issue would be very helpful.
Every one of my PDFs from a litany of creation sources appear with the corner attribute on their icons, something shared with selected (not all) other macOS document types. If these PDFs were exported/saved by Preview, then you should still be able to open them in it. This is not necessarily true for PDFs saved from other applications or platforms. Preview is not the PDF omnivore that Adobe maintains in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. Try the current version of the latter and see if it opens those PDFs.
Thanks for the help
I recently uploaded all of my files to my iCloud account to give me access from all of my Apple devices .
In the Finder, there are files with a corner turn down, including MSWord files that will not open. But there are files that do not have a corner turn down and they open fine.
In the Finder, in column view, the files with the very large and obvious turndown corner as I posted above have an iCloud icon to the right with an arrow pointing down that seems to indicate that they need to be downloaded from the iCloud. I can click on a menu option next to the icon and select and click "Download now".
You then get the little clock face icon with the second hand that sweeps around to show some activity completing, but for these files, the icon does not move. No download,
I can open my iCloud account in my Safari browser, find and easily open any of these files that have a Turndown corner on in my MBP Finder, which seems to indicate that they are REALLY there in the iCloud.
Why, then, aren't they downloading to my MBP when I click on them in the finder?
Might it have something to do with the fact that I had to have my MBP wiped clean and reinstall Monterrey on the MBP and there were "archives" made of these iCloud files? Is there some kind of Finder confusion between the archives on my computer and the "actual" files stored in iCloud?
Sorry to make this so complex. Again, thanks for the help.
If screenshots of any of this would help, just ask.
Adobe is no help in this. I tried. Those files showing the iCloud icon next to them in the finder actually are simply not downloaded to my computer and therefore unavailable to any application that might open them.
can't open corner turn down pdf from finder in Preview
