Editing images in Preview is now impossible...?

Question

Level 1

1 points

Editing images in Preview is now impossible...?

Prior to Lion, I edited hundreds of images a week in preview. Mostly I'd open up a tiff that was several MB's and reduce the image size and SAVE AS a jpg with a little compression. Typically reducing the size from 5MB down to a couple hundred K.

I'd also use Preview to crop images and resave them.

Since Lion, these basic, simple tasks have become IMPOSSIBLE. I've used Mac's for many years without problems, but Lion is driving me crazy. Can anyone please help me figure out the workflow to do this basic operation?

Right now if I open a 5MB TIFF File I can't make any changes because I get a message saying the file is locked. So I must now Duplicate it within preview. After which, I'm working with a copy. I then resize it and choose Save Version. But when I go to save it I get this error:

Document "xxx" cannot be saved as "xxx"

then I get a message: Document "xxx" cannot be autosaved.

If I try to export the image, I get this message: Document "xxx" cannot be exported as "xxx"...

On the other hand, if I duplicate the file first in Finder, open the copy in Preview and make changes, when I go to save the file I get this message:

The document “keypad_5 copy 2.jpg” could not be saved.

Any ideas what the heck is going on?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Sep 15, 2011 10:40 PM

Reply

Answer 1

K T

Level 7

23,865 points

Sep 15, 2011 10:42 PM in response to KenB70

Have you brushed up on 'Versions' in Lion, yet?

Reply

Answer 2

Sep 16, 2011 2:45 AM in response to K T

Version does no working as well, cause it says cannot be autosaved, and when try to manual "save a version" it also say "the document xxx could not be saved".

Didnt developer test this???? im affraid this is going to be a vista version of MAC....

I understand that OSX lion is trying to be different and more advanced, i agree that versioning function is good, but no need to remove "save as".

Reply

Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,470 points

Sep 16, 2011 4:37 AM in response to KenB70

When you Duplicate and then Save, are you trying to save as the same name of the file you duplicated from?

If so, you'd have to Unlock that file in the title bar, and then close that file.

If that is not it, then you've got a permission problem, I think.

Reply

Answer 4

Sep 16, 2011 5:12 AM in response to KenB70

Ken - preview is now unusable for what you want to do.

There do appear to be complex workarounds but since you're likely to be changing the image many, many times, those workarounds are useless and would at least double or triple the amount of work you'd have to do.

Instead, I would recommend Graphic Converter, which does have the Lion Autosave/versions thing but it's OFF by default.

You say you work on large numbers of images so GC would be an excellent investment for you, as it does a lot of other things besides.

Reply

Answer 5

KenB70 Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 16, 2011 6:49 AM in response to Tom in London

Tom is correct. Preview is now broken and useless for these tasks. It is not a permission issue. I can duplicate it on different Mac's with different files over and over. It does appear to be more of an issue with tiff files than others. Here's what happens:

Assume I want to make changes to a file and save it under a different name. For example dog.tiff is the original and dog_small.tiff is the changed version, just less pixels.

As I understand it, since there is no longer a SAVE AS feature, the proper way to do this is to: a) Open the file, b) Choose Duplicate from within Preview to create a copy, c) make your changes to the new copy and, d) save the copy.

However; when you choose duplicate, about half the time (with no rhyme or reason) the duplicate file will automatically have a new name, such as: dog copy. But with other files when you the duplicated version will not have a new name, but rather the same name as the original. For instance original was dog.tiff and the copy will also be called dog.

Now you can't save, export or anything. It won't let you. Very screwy..... Uggghhhhh

Reply

Answer 6

Dave Hutch

Level 4

1,491 points

Sep 16, 2011 8:15 AM in response to KenB70

You should think about getting yourself Photoshop. Automate the entire task for you

Reply

Answer 7

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Sep 16, 2011 8:22 AM in response to KenB70

http://skitch.com/

Reply

Answer 8

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Sep 16, 2011 8:31 AM in response to KenB70

KenB70 wrote:

Right now if I open a 5MB TIFF File I can't make any changes because I get a message saying the file is locked.

You can change this in ->System Preferences->Time Machine->Options and uncheck "Lock Documents"

Reply

Answer 9

KenB70 Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 16, 2011 8:31 AM in response to macjack

Thanks for all the suggestions for workarounds (outside of Preview). I have no trouble using pixelmator, photoshop, etc. My frustration is that Preview/Lion is broke and doesn't work. Instead of being able to click on an image, have it quickly open in preview, make some minor changes and be on my merry way, I now have to open an entirely new program when I should have to.

Lion has been a nightmare in just about every way. I've been so happy since Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard....but Lion just doesn't work right or make sense. I'm trying to be patient, but all my colleagues seems to be having similar frustrating issues.

Doesn't feel like Apple or Mac OS X anymore. Unnecessarily confusing and frustrating. I hope they fix it soon.

Reply

Answer 10

KenB70 Author

Level 1

1 points

Sep 16, 2011 8:33 AM in response to Tony T1

Anyone who has this issue knows that Export doesnt' work either. Message is:

Preview cannot Export file "xxx" with the name "xxx".

For clarity, half of the images work fine. Seemingly at random though, many won't.

Reply

Answer 11

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Sep 16, 2011 9:24 AM in response to KenB70

Hi Ken, you are right about Preview. It's a big step backwrads.

You can duplicate an image then "Save" and change the format in the Save dialog.

This is a real PITA and a step backward to me.

Join the bring back "Save As" chorus.

Send Apple Feedback

Reply

Answer 12

costmik

Level 1

0 points

Dec 12, 2012 1:37 PM in response to KenB70

I don't get it. EASY thing to do: (before lion)

- open jpg with preview

- Tools - Adjust Size - change Width -ok

- Ready. save (cmd-s)

lion: The document could not be saved?????

***? this defeats the purpose of Tools, not?

Could anyone PLEASE tell me what is going on?

I known my way around pc's & mac for 25 years, but this??????????? HELP

Reply

Answer 13

KenB70 Author

Level 1

1 points

Dec 12, 2012 2:45 PM in response to costmik

The GOOD news is that all of this is fixed in Mountain Lion. Save As works once again. Kind of the best of both worlds now. Worth the $20 up grade just to solve the issue.

The other thing I found is that Adobe Reader has a way of causing issues when saving items in Preview. You might try removing it and seeing if that solves your issue. With the current version of Preview (OS X 10.8.2) I haven't needed Adobe Reader for many, many months.

Kudos to Apple, the listened and fixed a bad situation that I believe may have been exaserbated by Adobe Reader. Hope this helps.

Reply

Answer 14

costmik

Level 1

0 points

Dec 12, 2012 10:47 PM in response to KenB70

⚠ This did NOT solve my Problem, and has NOTHING to do with Adobe.

The BAD news ist that I now have OSX 10.8.2 and the problem remains...Duplicate, Rename, Move to, Export...whatever: did not work. Must be a permission thing...Autosaved not possible. etc....

Save as... still invisible! I as a computer Nerd! How do other people handle this then??

I just opened a jpg, cropped it and wanted to save it again (2 seconds step) but guess what? didn't work.

How simple can you get? I STILL do not understand!

Thank four your input though, have a nice day, Mike

Reply

Answer 15

KenB70 Author

Level 1

1 points

Dec 12, 2012 11:59 PM in response to costmik

I love OS X, but dealing with this issue last year had me very upset too. Especially because other macs I owned did not suffer from the same issue. Here's what I would try: 1. If there are any user accounts you don't need delete them. Disable the guest account. 2. Restart in install disc or spare partion mode and run iDisk, Repair Permissions from there. Then reboot. 3. If you still have the issue (and my strongest suspicion here) it's likely do to plugins that Reader left behind. Need to go into Library/plugins and find the plistt files. Search online for manually removing your version of reader for the files and locations. Empty trash and reboot afterward. This should work. The upgrade isn't wasted because 10.8 handles SaveAs infinitely better than 10.7.

Reply