Generic icons appearing in Mail attachments

thauxley wrote:

Since upgrading to macOS Ventura, a number of attachment types such as PDF attachments in Mail are appearing as generic blank icons. How do I resolve this problem?

I would simply wait for point updates to follow the macOS 13.0

or

updates to follow from your default PDF reader or third party for ex Adobe...

Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

This is a solution for macOS 10.12 that I found in other forum, may also works now in Ventura:

1. Search in Activity Monitor for com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent and Force Quit it.
2. Relaunch the Finder.

This problem affects just pdf documents. I use Preview. The blank documents appear only in the dock. They display thumbnails as selected in various windows as appropriate. It affects any pdf document. If I try to copy and past a thumbnail to the blank document it displays correctly in Finder and windows, but not Dock. I tried all sorts of deletion of pref files etc and no improvement. Annoying but they function ok. I hope for a point update to correct!

I'm using 3-rd party pdf reader and my pdf-file icon is blanc in Mail, MS Outlook and in the Dock, but in Finder all is ok. The same situation with ZIP files (I have installed and using Keka instead of standart archiver). Update to 13.1 don't fix it.

I was hoping that this would be fixed with 13.1 ; but it's not.

Do we know whether this issue is facing every MacOS user who has upgraded to Ventura? For something so obvious and visible there don't seem to be that many people reporting it or complaining. Makes me think it only affects a proportion of users.

I find it unusual there are not more posts. My system is bare bones with few if any third party vendors. None are continuously in use that would affect the icons appearance such as Word, text editors, etc. As in previous bugs, I often find them and there are few posts. Perhaps I am more OCD than most or most people are not too concerned since many of these small bugs only affect a workflow if it is unique to one's individual characteristics. I am hopeful the next point update addresses this!

Sadly true in my current experience. I've tried to remove and reload the icons. No luck. They are correctly displayed in a folder (smart folder) I have on my dock. Interesting they will not display correctly as single items on the dock.

13.2.1 on a MacBook Air M2, same issue. Tried rebuilding the mailbox, and safe booting. When that did not work I clean installed from a USB installer. Did not fix. This is terrible. Makes me think poorly of Apple.

Problem still exist after CLEAN reinstall of macOS. If you change any file opening apps different that system default (pdf, jpg, zip etc...) file icon change on blanc rectangle in Mail, Outlook or in Dock. In Finder and in file properties icon looks good. After creation new user all looks good if you do not change default application for open some default type of files

I have amazing news! I reached a senior consultant at Apple Tech Support. They agreed it is a bug and predicted it was due to the installation of Ventura. I was skeptical but they walked me through a re-install of Ventura and carried all my data and settings over to the re-install. It solved the problem! Icons are correctly displayed. The tech support person said my report and trouble shooting with them was the only contact they had about this issue. Go figure! He was uncertain of the origin of the bug. Thanks Apple for convincing me to try the re-install. I know there are many reinstall methods. We used the safe reboot and reinstall after First Aid checking the system (revealed no issues in First Aid). The reinstall basically was to create a new admin user for me with a new system then porting (copying) after giving permissions to do this all my "old admin" files over and overwriting the new admin user ones. So the logic is that the bug did not exist in preference or cache files apparently but only somewhere in the basic kernel of the old system files. I would advise those of you having this bug to contact Apple and get to a senior tech support person and ask them to find this solution in the logs. Not sure if you can reference my name, but they ought to have some documentation on this repair and that it was successful.

I am having this issue but I do not want to spend 3 hours on the phone with tech support to fix my icons. It looks like crap but I guess I will have to deal with it until they come up with a fix. How long did the entire copy and create new user process take?

Hi, I’m try clean install Ventura on my laptop. After change standard application for opening pdf files to Adobe Reader pdf icon is blanked in Dock and mail applications (Mail, Outlook). If I’m created a new user all is ok before changing standard application to Adobe. The same situation with zip files when associate zip with Keka or Bandizip.

I wish I were more of an expert. To the best of my recollection the solution was: 1. Create a new user account with admin permissions, I believe then restart and install a new OS into the new admin User, 2. Test by creating a few pdfs and dragging to the Dock. Display of these thumbnails were correct, 3. Copy previous Admin user documents, clipboard, Pictures, Movies, Applications from within the old admin account direct to the same folder/shell for the newly created User admin account. All worked after. Time took an hour or so for me but that will vary with your disc size and fullness. I would advise getting to a top level support person to maximize chances of success! Luck to you all. I'm sure there is a bug in here somewhere.

The problem also exists on a new MacMini that came factory pre-installed with Ventura 13.3.1, so it is not a remnant of upgrading the system. The blank icon symptom affects, in my case, only certain file types (.pdf, .docx., pptx.) but for instance not .xlsx and not .txt

It only appears in the dock and in attachment icons in Apple Mail, but not in the Finder.

The files open normally in the expected app.

So, it is really only cosmetic, but not up to the standards that Apple was once proud of.