Custom Quartz Filter In Preview Not Showing Up

The solution I realized involves the following:

• Right click the PDF file you desire to work with and then select "Open with..."
• Select the "Colorsync Utility" application
• The Colorsync Utility will open up with your PDF file
• At the bottom of Colorsync Utility status bar, you can select the quartz filter you wish to apply (including any custom ones you made)
• Press "Apply"
• Save the document

I hope this workaround can hold up for now. I do admit I miss the ability to see and use my quartz filters right out of preview.

Take care.

Ok, got it now.

Needed to generate new filters (Kopy the normal Reduce File size and changed it)

Then I had to transfer them like midnightmac said.

And then it works. I reduced 11,5 MB to 2,7 MB with still accaptable results.

Thanks all together

I'm having a strange problem:

In Preview: With some documents it works the EXPORT > way to find the Quartz filters, with some others I do exactly the same and I dont see the Filter option.

In ColorSync I just dont see where the Filters are? Top Bar?

Help anybody?

I had this problem of expecting Quartz filters to be available when I saved or "printed" a file, but found that they weren't. I tried the above fix, but found that my Users>"My name">Library>Filters folder was empty and there were no filters to transfer to the System Library folder.

However, if I use the File>Export command in Preview (where I used to use "Save as"), the Quartz filters are available, as of old. I created all the PDFs that I needed using this option. The best advice I've seen on this is here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3048661?start=0&tstart=0

So, Mac software is not always as consistent as we would like, but the solutions through this and other communities are usually easily found and readily shared.

Ruadh

I am having the same problem...why would they change something like this that we all use???

If you have the answer...let us know.

Same issue here.

I went so far as to remove my custom filters and re-create them. No luck. Still not showing up in the File->Export Quartz Filter list.

This is a significant issue as I use these filters as part of my daily workflow. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Nice find. I wasn't aware that ColorSync could open files. Learn something new every day.

This certainly works and is a step forward. Thanks for sharing.

Hopefully Apple will get around to fixing this obvious bug in Preview so we can reduce the number of steps.

Thanks.

Hello mrrish_ and everyone else,

Thanks for your tip. After a bit of fiddling around, I managed to reduce a 500MB+ scanned PDF document to a bit over 10MB with no apparent change to the quality. Simply amazing!!!

Take care 🙂

Peter

++++

I am just tired of this piece of crap aka Mac Book Pro. Why do I have to go through the hassle of a completely different app to go adjust my file size etc? Arcane complicated steps to do simple things - just thoroughly frustrated with this computer. Can count the number of things I like in just one hand - hardly any! BOAT LOAD of #RAP.

Hey akhushraj,

I understand your frustration. In terms of computers, windows and linux are your only other options; and I know Windows 7 has no built in PDF function at all, and to be able to modify PDF properties, you have to buy Adobe Acrobat which costs $100-200. So, your mac is actually your best choice in this particular scenario. Also to remark on your statement: modifying PDF quality is not a 'simple' task at all. I know you want it to 'just work,' but there are lot of properties in the PDF file that need to be accounted for.

I have long accepted that if I had to do anything advanced I would have to jump through hoops because most OSs are geared towards mainstream functionality. This is pretty much inevitable.

Having paid a premium for a Mac Book Pro (in many cases 1.5 to 2 times the price of a PC), it's hard to justify the $100-$200 savings. I would rather get a full featured Adobe Acrobat and install it on PC. And it would still be cheaper than Mac Book. BUT the bigger problem is that fake Apple promise of "keeping it simple" OR "it just works" is all a load of #RAP. And to be fair, I quite like the iPhone and the iPad and use them extensively (over 400 apps!). But the Mac Book Pro? BIG FAIL!

midnightmac

Just copy your filter from

/Users/YourName/Library/Filters/

to /Library/PDF Services/

and the customized profile will be back in preview.

Cheers

Thank you for this - your suggestion made me look like a mac genius to my client!!

😉

Just to summarize how to get this to work from the previous helpful posts:

Download the Quartz filters from GitHub using the link below. At the bottom right you can download all of the files with the "download zip" link.

https://github.com/joshcarr/Apple-Quartz-Filters

Drag the folder from the downloads to the desktop. The files will have the ".qfilter" extension.

Open Finder and use <Cmd><Shift>G and enter "/System/Library/Filters"

CAUTION: Do not place these in "PDF Services" folder or create a new "Filters" folder in your user Library folder.

These need to go in the System/Library folder to work.

You should see the standard Quartz Filters that Preview uses. Drag the new filter files that you downloaded to this folder.

It will prompt you for an Admin password to add these.

That is all the setup you need.

Then in Preview, either use <option> while pulling down the File menu to get the SaveAs option, or use Export... option.

At the bottom of the dialog box make sure the save Format is PDF in the drop down.

Then a Quartz Filter drop down will have all the new Quartz filter options available.

Pick the desired compression and save the file.

Thanks to everyone for great help.