Missing images, PDF deletion bug, and AirDrop renaming dates in Preview after macOS Sequoia update

Question

Missing images, PDF deletion bug, and AirDrop renaming dates in Preview after macOS Sequoia update

Since updating to macOS Sequoia, I’ve been experiencing several issues that did not exist before:

1. Preview doesn’t display all images in a folder

When I copy a series of photos into a folder (for example, from my iPhone), only part of them are visible in Preview — the rest show up as blank white rectangles.

These files are normal JPEGs, not corrupted, and they open just fine in Quick Look or Photos.

This never happened before, and only started after upgrading to Sequoia.

2. PDF editing is broken in Preview

I used to be able to delete individual pages from a PDF using the thumbnail view on the left — by selecting a page and pressing Command + Delete, only the selected page would be removed.

Now, doing the same command sends the entire PDF to the Trash, not just the page.

I’ve confirmed that this works correctly on an older iMac running an earlier version of Preview (v11 (10.33.4)). On the Sequoia Mac, Preview is version v11 (10.69.5.2) and behaves incorrectly.

I cannot find any setting to fix or change this problem.

3. AirDrop renames folders by changing the year

When I send a folder via AirDrop that includes a year in its name (e.g. “Folder 2025”), the receiving Mac automatically renames it to “Folder 2026”.

This happens consistently and I’ve tested it multiple times. I have no idea why the year is being changed during transfer — it’s incredibly frustrating and makes no sense.

These are serious usability regressions. Can anyone confirm if this is a known bug or if there are workarounds or fixes?

Any help is appreciated.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Apr 22, 2025 12:03 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 23, 2025 4:42 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and share your advice, I discovered that I can delete individual PDF pages in Preview using just the Delete key (without Command). This works as expected.

However, I want to point out that on my other Mac, which runs an older version of Preview (the same as the Mac with the issues i am talking about before upgrade) I was always using Command + Delete to delete selected pages from the thumbnails — and it worked perfectly.

In the current version on macOS Sequoia, using Command + Delete does not just close the window — it moves the entire file to Trash, and moreover, the “Put Back” option is not available in the Trash if the file was deleted this way.

The only way to restore it is to manually drag it back to another folder. This is definitely different from how it used to work.

As for the Preview image display issue, I followed all of your suggestions:

— I tested in Safe Mode

— I also tested in Normal Mode under a separate user account

Unfortunately, the problem remains exactly the same in both cases:

Only part of the image files in a folder are displayed in Preview as thumbnails — the rest appear as blank white rectangles.

All the files are valid JPGs, and they open normally in Quick Look and third-party apps.

I also ran EtreCheck, and it didn’t find any critical system problems, other than some disk space usage.

For privacy reasons, I would prefer not to post the full report here, since it contains quite a bit of sensitive information.

To sum up:

There seems to be a systematic issue with Preview, which I only began to experience recently.

I can’t say with 100% certainty that it’s directly caused by a macOS Sequoia update, but all symptoms appeared only after the upgrade.

So far, none of the recommended steps have resolved the problem — which leads me to believe it may be a bug introduced in a recent version of Preview.

Thanks again for your insights — they were truly helpful.

I appreciate your effort a lot

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Answer 2

Apr 23, 2025 2:35 AM in response to aleksandrafromмосква

aleksandrafromмосква wrote:

However, my issue is different: when I try to delete a single page using the thumbnail sidebar in Preview, it sends the entire PDF to the Trash instead of just removing the selected page — something that never happened before macOS Sequoia.

I also confirm that I’m running the latest version of Sequoia, macOS 15.4.1, and the problem persists.

As I noted before, clicking Command-Delete closes the window, but does NOT (at least in my mac) move the file to trash, it stays where it was.

Just pressing the Delete key, without modifiers, lets you delete pages from the thumbnails in sidebar.

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Answer 3

Apr 22, 2025 8:14 AM in response to aleksandrafromмосква

FWIW, deleting of PDF pages from the thumbnails in the Sidebar continues to work correctly.

This, and probably the other issues, are due to some local issue on your mac, rather than a bug in Sequoia.

Sequoia has been out for half a year now, and this is the first time I've seen a report of this issue.

Test to see if the same problem happens:

a) in Safe Mode

b) in normal mode, when running in a new user account

please let us know.

Please run Etrecheck and post its full report here. Use the "additional text" button and paste the report into the text box.

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Answer 4

Apr 22, 2025 8:17 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Correction and clarification on my previous post:

Command-Delete Closes the file (it does NOT delete it). This is unexpected.

The correct way to delete pages is just to press the Delete key (not Command-Delete).

This works in Sequoia just as it did before.

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Answer 5

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,634 points

Apr 22, 2025 7:57 AM in response to aleksandrafromмосква

see if there is any insight here—

Some issues with .jpeg formats in macOS Previewing PDFS

Blank Pages on Preview

Blank Pages on Preview - Apple Community

To be proactive you can file a bug report / submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

Verify your software is up to date…

The current stable release of Sequoia including bug fixes, security updates is macOS 15.4.1

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

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Answer 6

Apr 23, 2025 7:44 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I don’t know what to say.

The entire PDF file disappears instantly, and the only place I can find it is the Trash.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no option in Finder or Preview to change the settings.

As for the Preview thumbnails issue:

This happens only with newly added JPGs.

Older files (added before updating to macOS Sequoia) display thumbnails correctly.

We are talking about approximately 5 to 30 % of all images per session

All affected images:

• Are from the same iPhone

• Have identical settings, file size, resolution, and format

• Open fine in Photos, QuickLook, and third-party apps

• But show up as white thumbnails in Preview and Finder

I tested the following scenarios:

• Airdropped from iPhone → thumbnails are blank

• Exported “originals” from Photos to Finder → thumbnails are broken

• Exported JPEGs (non-originals) from Photos at high quality to Finder → thumbnails display correctly

• Copy-pasting those JPEGs within Finder → thumbnails break again

• Dragging-and-dropping the same JPEGs in Finder → thumbnails display correctly

Another issue discovered recently with AirDrop:

When sending large numbers of photos from iPhone (e.g. 818 images), only part of them arrive (e.g. 700 received).

No error is shown — the rest are just silently skipped. Missed images are not corrupted and the numbers where chosen right (made screenshots)

And as I mentioned previously, AirDrop renames folders by changing the year (e.g. ‘Folder 2025’ to “Folder 2026) for the unknown reason.

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Answer 7

Apr 23, 2025 8:00 AM in response to aleksandrafromмосква

aleksandrafromмосква wrote:

And as I mentioned previously, AirDrop renames folders by changing the year (e.g. ‘Folder 2025’ to “Folder 2026) for the unknown reason.

That may be because a folder by the same name already exists in the Downloads folder.

Typically if you send a file or folder with the same name as one already existing, it will be renamed so as to not overwrite the previous file.

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Answer 8

Apr 23, 2025 1:07 AM in response to leroydouglas

Thank you for your reply and for providing those links.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find a solution in the resources you shared. The issue I’m experiencing with JPEG files in Preview is not addressed there — in my case, certain JPEGs from a photo series simply appear as white rectangles in Preview, even though they are valid, not corrupted, and open correctly in Quick Look and other apps.

As for the PDF issue, the problem described in the links refers to blank pages appearing in PDFs. However, my issue is different: when I try to delete a single page using the thumbnail sidebar in Preview, it sends the entire PDF to the Trash instead of just removing the selected page — something that never happened before macOS Sequoia.

I also confirm that I’m running the latest version of Sequoia, macOS 15.4.1, and the problem persists.

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Answer 9

Apr 23, 2025 6:06 AM in response to aleksandrafromмосква

I cannot reproduce the “move to trash” problem.

Regarding the white thumbnail issue: how many images are we talking about? Is it always the same files? Could it be just a timing issue? If you select just a few of these images and open them do the same files show white thumbnails?

Regarding the Etrecheck report: I understand that you may not want to share it, and that’s your right, of course. And the fact that you are seeing the problem in Safe Mode suggests that maybe we would not find the cause there. When a problem disappears in Safe Mode we are pretty sure it is some third party software and then often the report helps finding it. Probably not the case here.

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Answer 10

Apr 23, 2025 2:38 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Got it thank

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