Can I save my current 'adjust colour' levels in Preview as a pre-set for future images?

If Apple invested the time and resources to make every application that ships for free in macOS, a world class application with all the features that users request, the operating system would no longer be free, ship on schedule, and in due course, result in brand market devaluation.

The command-line sips tool can match image colors to a specified color profile, or assign a color profile, but it cannot otherwise perform the incremental adjustments found in the Adjust Color tool in Preview.

I own all of the Affinity product suite. I also own Graphic Converter 12 which may be worth looking into as it has a robust batch image conversion capability and is quite affordable. There is a free trial.

You can assume that Preview is frequently updated, though this may not be user visible, or reflect augmented functionality.

No. Not remembered by Preview, even if you re-opened an image where for instance, you increased exposure. The image will show that exposure increase, but the Adjust color panel is reset to Apple's original Preview settings, not what you set.

Tested: macOS Ventura 13.5.

RaphaeliteGirl wrote:

I don't know if it's even worth requesting this feature via apple feedback, as I'm uncertain how often Preview is meaningfully updated now; it doesn't even appear in the tag options in this forum under Apple's 'apps and services' – almost as if they've kind of forgotten about it...

There are lots of applications that aren't shown separately as they are considered almost part of the operating system. So, that's no reason not to give feedback. Just use the operating system as your category.

On the other hand, it does seem unlikely to me that Apple will attempt to turn Preview into a more full-featured image editing program when they already have image editing software.