Preview: Copy image from PDF to clipboard

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Level 1

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Preview: Copy image from PDF to clipboard

I know that screen capture (screenshot) would work, but my question is different.

There are PDF documents in which images (JPEG images, etc.) are embedded.

On Acrobat Reader, you right-click on an image and copy it to the clipboard. Then, you create an image file out of the contents of the clipboard, using the "create image from clipboard" feature of GIMP or Preview.

On Preview, you right-click on the image and copy it. But the copied image isn't available to GIMP or Preview in the "create image from clipboard" feature.

Where does Preview copy the image to, then?

Mac mini, macOS 12.3

Posted on Apr 21, 2022 1:51 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 21, 2022 5:01 AM in response to ryofurue

When you open a PDF in Preview, and select an image on that PDF, choosing to copy it to the clipboard, it is not placed there as image data alone (e.g. .jpg) that you would expect. It is actually contained in an Apple-specific RTFD container that few third-party applications can handle. It can be pasted into Apple's Pages or TextEdit because those applications are designed to open and export RTFD data. GIMP is not.

If you select the Finder's Edit menu > Show Clipboard, you will be greeted with a white window whose data type is shown as RTF. Not very helpful. However, if one is using the Xcode Additional Tools Clipboard Viewer, it shows 12 data items placed on the clipboard as a result of that Preview image copy and two are RTFD packages that contain the image data.

The current Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (v2022.001) allows you to select the same image and copy that image data to the clipboard where it is accessible by GIMP, and other applications expecting image data. The Finder's clipboard viewer reports that image as TIFF data. It can even be dragged and dropped to the Desktop if that is a goal.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

124,649 points

Apr 21, 2022 2:32 AM in response to ryofurue

ryofurue wrote:

Perhaps it's a bug on the part of Preview not to gray out the "copy" item in the context menu?

That's a logical conclusion. You can mention it to Apple if you like.

Feedback - macOS - Apple

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Answer 3

ryofurue Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 21, 2022 8:49 PM in response to VikingOSX

> It is actually contained in an Apple-specific RTFD container that few third-party applications can handle.

Thank you very much for your detailed and clear explanation! Now I understand what's going on. But, I'm sorry I don't understand the following part:

> The Finder's clipboard viewer reports that image as TIFF data.

> It can even be dragged and dropped to the Desktop if that is a goal.

When I do that (copy an image; Finder > Edit > Show Clipboard), a new Finder window appears (see the image at the bottom of this posting). I don't know how to save the RTF data as a file. And I don't know why it's white.

In any case, this is an ironic bug that Preview cannot use the contents of the clipboard which it itself has created! Copy an image and go to the "File" menu. Its own "New from clipboard" entry is grayed out! (If the contents of the clipboard is a JPEG image, the feature works.)

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Answer 4

ryofurue Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 21, 2022 2:29 AM in response to dialabrain

> It [Preview] doesn't copy embedded images.

So . . . when you double-click on the image, it's highlighted. Then, right-click on the image. The context menu shows an item called "copy". You select it.

What does this "copy" do?

Perhaps it's a bug on the part of Preview not to gray out the "copy" item in the context menu?

. . . After I wrote the above, I actually examined the contents of the clipboard. It was a single whitespace (0x20)!

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Answer 5

ryofurue Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 21, 2022 3:00 AM in response to dialabrain

> You can mention it to Apple if you like.

Thanks! Done.

But, what's the difference between

Feedback - macOS - Apple ("https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html")

and

https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/

? Some time ago, I used the latter, so this time I did so, too.

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Answer 6

dialabrain

Level 10

124,649 points

Apr 21, 2022 5:26 AM in response to VikingOSX

VikingOSX wrote:

The current Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (v2022.001) allows you to select the same image and copy that image data to the clipboard where it is accessible by GIMP, and other applications expecting image data. The Finder's clipboard viewer reports that image as TIFF data. It can even be dragged and dropped to the Desktop if that is a goal.

I thought I said that. 😎

FWIW, TextEdit has to be in RTF mode.

edit: so did the user for that matter.

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