Service command in Preview.app - Send PDF as attachment doesn't work

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Level 1

9 points

Service command in Preview.app - Send PDF as attachment doesn't work

I have used the following workflow for month on all my three macs.

I open up a PDF file in Preview and select "eMail PDF as attachment" from the Edit menu at the top of the screen. This will attach the current viewed PDF file to a new mail message.

I guess after updating to 10.7.2 somehow it stopped working on MacBook Pro and iMac. My Mac mini is fine.

When I do use this command I get two error messages. Service not available. Can't attach PDF to mail. Import failed. Something like that.

Does anyone know how to fix that? I repaired permissions and did all that kind of stuff.

Thanks in advance!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Oct 21, 2011 6:54 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 21, 2011 11:05 AM in response to btraber

I don't see that in Preview's Edit menu. Is this the Services menu? Can you provide steps on how to set this up, please?

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Answer 2

btraber Author

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9 points

Oct 21, 2011 1:12 PM in response to John Blanchard1

Thanks for the reply. It should come up under FILE in the menu bar (first thing right after PREVIEW). Sorry my system is set to another language.

Instead of opening Mail.app and attaching that PDF to a new message, you can make use of FILE - Send PDF as eMail (or something like that). Just open a PDF-File in Preview. Make use of that command under FILE.

It should simply open Mail.app and open a new email message with the PDF File as an attachment.

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Answer 3

Oct 21, 2011 2:52 PM in response to btraber

You mean "Mail Selected PDF Document?" If so, I see that, and it works here. Where do you see the error messages? In Preview? Is there anything more helpful in Console?

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Answer 4

btraber Author

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9 points

Oct 21, 2011 11:55 PM in response to John Blanchard1

Yes it is the option to "Mail selected PDF document". The first message is with Preview telling me that the service "New eMail with attachment" couldn't be used. When I click on OK, I get an error message saying, "Import Failed. Couldn't import the selected images into Mail". All this time Mail doesn't even open up.

I'm afraid nothing helpful about that error will show up in Console.

Strange thing. As I said two of my Mac have that problem. The other one doesn't.

Thanks John for helping me out.

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Answer 5

Oct 22, 2011 1:35 PM in response to btraber

It sounds like the second message is a result of the first. Solving the service error should get rid of the second.

Do you have the "New eMail with attachment" service turned on in the Keyboard->Keyboard Shortcuts->Services panel? If it is on, is it something specific to the document? Permissions?

I can't reproduce the failure here, so I am just guessing.

>>I'm afraid nothing helpful about that error will show up in Console.

Does that mean that nothing *did" show up? In the "All Messages" or "Diagnostic and Usage Messages?" There should be something somewhere in Console that relates to the service error.

Happy to help, though I am running out of ideas.

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Answer 6

Oct 24, 2011 5:28 AM in response to btraber

Same happened to my 15'' Macbook Pro mid 2010. After the 10.7.2 update I cannot send emails through the Preview app. I tried to google the error messages that show up (exactly same as already mentioned in this thread), but nothing to find. No messages show up in the log files. The service in the service menu is activated (exactly like before the 10.7.2 update). My Lion is a Snow Leopard upgrade install and not a fresh install. My Mac Mini 2010 doesn't have this problem.

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Answer 7

btraber Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 24, 2011 5:45 AM in response to John Blanchard1

For some reason nothing showed up in Console. I checked again and there was nothing. My situation is pretty much as thomas089 described it. I did a clean install of Lion and carbon copied this version to my Mac mini and iMac. The Mac mini 2009 is fine.

And I did repair permissions, Cleaned caches and resetted the service menu. Nothing...

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Answer 8

Oct 24, 2011 5:50 AM in response to btraber

Out of curiosity I just created a new user on my Macbook. When I log on as the new user, it works again. But with the original user it still doesn't work.

So I suppose it is some broken setting in the local library folder. Has anyone an idea what it could be?

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Answer 9

Oct 24, 2011 7:28 AM in response to btraber

ok, I have a solution. I closed the Preview.app, then I moved the folder ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview to my Desktop (or somewhere else). I opened some pdf with Preview again, and then I was able to use "eMail PDF as attachment" as usual. Mail opens as expected. The ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview folder has been newly created again.

Maybe someone can enlighten me what it is all about this Container folder in Library?

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Answer 10

Oct 24, 2011 1:26 PM in response to thomas089

Are you able to reintroduce the problem by moving the old ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview folder back? If so, would it possible, please, to send me that folder? There's no sensitive information there, and maybe I can figure out if it's a permissions issue. My address is jblancha@mac.com. Thank you.

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Answer 11

Oct 24, 2011 6:56 PM in response to thomas089

Genius! This has been driving nuts all day. Your solution fixed it. Thanks L:)

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Answer 12

Oct 26, 2011 11:05 AM in response to btraber

I digged a little bit more into the cause for the problem. The reason for the problem in my case was that in

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview/Data/Library/Preferences

the file com.apple.ServicesMenu.Services.plist actually was a real file. After I removed the complete ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview folder, everything has been recreated, but this time the file com.apple.ServicesMenu.Services.plist was a symbolic link to the real file. If I change this symbolic link back to the old real file, I run into the problem as before. Permissions by the way looked all fine and identical.

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Answer 13

Oct 26, 2011 4:48 PM in response to thomas089

Thomas, thank you very much for updating the thread with that information. That should prove very helpful in trying to figure out what's causing this problem.

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Answer 14

Oct 27, 2011 6:10 PM in response to thomas089

Would it be possible, please, for someone who has/had this issue to send me the com.apple.ServicesMenu.Services.plist files from ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview/Data/Library/Preferences and from ~/Library/Preferences?

Thank you.

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Answer 15

Nov 2, 2011 8:51 AM in response to John Blanchard1

I am having the same problem the original poster had, and in trying to perform the fix he gave, I am now having trouble finding the folder/file he references that needs to be removed. I'm on a 15"MBP, (early 2008) running Lion 10.7.2 (from an upgrade). I guess I haven't looked at Finder in awhile and it looks different than the last time I looked. For the life of me, I can't find this anywhere:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview/Data/Library/Preferences

I know that the "~" stands for my user name, correct? The name that appears next to the little house icon? And before, when I clicked on my user name, among the folders that appeared I could have sworn that one was labled "Library". However, there is no "Library" folder now, just the following:

I've tried searching the computer, using Spotlight, for the folder name (or various combinations of the folder name) and nothing comes up. Can anyone help steer me in the right direction to find the folder so that I can try and fix the problem with Preview and attaching files to emails? Thank you!

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