Preview not working, macOS Ventura 13.3 (14-in M1 Pro MacBook 2021)

Hello,

we the same problem with some files. It seems that the problem occurs when there is a special character in the path or file name, like umlauts: äöü etc.

As soon as you change the name or go into edit mode for the filename/pathname - even without changing anything - it works for us. We have like 20 people which have the same problem. And it seems that it does not matter if the system has the latest 13.3.2 or 12.x

Best

Managed to fix it.

For me it neither Preview nor Pages can open file if any part of the path contains some strangely encoding characters.

So it can be ~/hälsa/file.pdf that doesn't work or ~/health/hälsa.pdf.

If I rename the whole path, to the same thing it fixes it. Both swedish chacters åäö and spaces need to be renamed, possibly other chacters as well. Should be possible to create a script that fixes the encoding for all files, using convmv or similar.

Hey wokw03,

We'll be happy to help! Start the Mac in safe mode for testing purposes. Safe mode can help tell us if the issue is possible login items. Be aware that internet access is limited in safe mode, but sometimes just starting in this mode and then restarting normally can resolve some issues: How to use safe mode on your Mac.

Because of the nature of this, it could be an issue with settings or software interfering on the Mac. We'd recommend setting up a new user account on the Mac for testing purposes, as this can help isolate if this is the cause of the issue. The steps to do this are under "add account" here: Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support. If it doesn't happen in the test user account, it will let us know that issue could be caused by a third-party program or certain settings on the main user account. 

Keep us updated!

Same problem here with MacBook Pro M2, 16", MacOS 13.3.1 (a), Spanish localized version. Sometimes attempting to edit the PDF file name, without actually changing anything, solves the issue with respect to that specific file. But more often this trick is useless. For instance: "001258-01-E30-PC-0002_R2 - AS BUILT.pdf" can't be opened with double click from Finder...

This particular file has been copied from a Windows PC using a USB drive to an HD partition in my MacBook named 'DOCS'. If I just copy from it to the 'Macintosh HD' partition where the 13.13.1(a) system resides, Preview does open it with the usual double-click from Finder. File permissions of the original file in 'DOCS' and of the copy in "Macintosh HD' allow me & staff & everyone to read and write on it. But somehow moving the file from a partition to another solves the issue for that file.

Updating to 13.4 seem to have solved it!

Try updating to 13.4.

If I do not try to edit the file name when the file is still in 'DOCS', Preview will not open it with a double-click from Finder even if I move it to 'Macintosh HD'. But I can edit the file name then, never altering it, and Preview opens it.

So, from my experience with this odd behavior of Finder + Preview, files need to be moved from a disk partition to another and an attempt to edit its name must be made. Both actions solve the issue when done cumulatively in any order. Just one of them seldom does.

Workaround:

1. Start the Preview.app by any means, for example opening a PDF file (or trying to open it).

2. Use Preview > Open... to navigate to the file in question in the file system and open it.

This can be inconvenient, but at least Preview seems to be able to open all PDF files that way, non-ASCII Unicode codepoints in the filename or not.

Keep praying to fruit-related deities for a bugfix...

Perhaps 13.4 fixed it by converting all files to the correct encoding, and then onedrive on your other computer got out of sync. Try removing OneDrive and install it again, or run some kind of re-sync if possible.

Yes, it is a problem with Unicode characters that have more than one UTF-8 encoding. Here’s hoping for a quick resolution, probably in an OS update.

In the meantime, you may want to try the free Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.

mbosner wrote:

it does not matter if the system has the latest 13.3.2 or 12.x

I don't think I have ever seen this reported for MacOS 12. Are you sure about that?

I have seen a report that 13.4 will fix it, but will have to wait for that to be released to be sure

dagosalas wrote:

That's right, a file named file.pdf opens without problems. But a file named file(1).pdf cannot open it.

There are no problematic unicode characters in "file(1).pdf", so its not opening must be caused by something other than the utf-8 bug discussed here.

Hi, here an Intel iMac with Monterey 12.6.5 with the same problem. I also have a MacBook Pro M1 with Ventura latest version and Preview is not working properly.

It's a pity the road that Apple has chosen in the last years ... every new macOS version is crappier than the former. They always say that next version will be used to fix issues and improve performance ... It's been told that since Snow Leopard and has never really happened.

I'm having the same problem. I updated my MacBookPro to Ventura 13.4 (22F66) a couple of days ago and now I cannot open any .jpg files (or .png) in preview. I'm a photographer and I use Adobe Lightroom to edit and export in .jpg. Everything was working fine until yesterday (5/21/23) in the afternoon and now I get this error every time I try to open a .jpg file. The files open on my phone in Microsoft OneDrive and I can open them and view them on my Mac Desktop (with updated Ventura software) but not with my laptop. I can't open past .jpg files either.

I'll keep following for a solution but wanted to share my experience and that I can open on my desktop but not laptop.

Thanks!