Level 1

4 points

Rotating pictures in Preview

A co-author and I are writing a book. Research entailed visiting many archives, and photographing pages of cellar books, and of wine catalogues. Naturally enough, pages were photographed in order: at each archive, oldest books first, and within each book the pages from oldest entry to newest.

We have about fifteen thousand pictures, my folder structure on my computer being the same as that on his.

With Snow-Leopard Preview I would go to the folder for that archive, command-A command-O, and all the pictures would open. I could scroll from one picture to the next, either gesturing within the sidebar, or with appropriate keys. About half of all pictures needed rotating, done with command-R. So far, so good. Indeed, so excellent.

Now to my new Mac, a 27" beauty that came with OS Lion. The large screen is to see big pictures at the same time as editing the words of the book. And again, command-A, command-R, and scroll away. Ooooh: that picture is at ninety degrees: command-R. Annoying rhythm-breaking dialog box asks whether I want to unlock it (no, never ever change my original pictures, just never) or duplicate it (or, uselessly, cancel). Duplicate. So now there is a new window with just that picture, rotated. About half of all pictures need rotating, so quite quickly my screen is a disorganised mess of one-picture windows.

I have owned a Mac since 1988: please let this not be Apple’s Mr Clippy moment. Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to the Apple store I go. I get some sympathy, and some agreement that for my purposes new Preview doesn’t work well. Suggestion: download the old Preview from somewhere. So to my old Mac, now somebody else’s; archive Preview (and TextEdit); FTP up; back to my machine; FTP down and unpack.

Preview has a long complicated error message, the crunchy bit perhaps being “Library not loaded: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MeshKit.framework/Versions/A/MeshKit”.

(Aside: TextEdit works, which I hoped was great—no more over-writing my files behind my back. Alas the new TextEdit in the applications folder is super-locked and can’t be overwritten.)

Back to Preview. Please, how can I have a bulk open of pictures, in the right order, which are not altered by Preview, which are easily rotated (no dialog box), and which post-rotation remain in the right order? No new files; and no changes to the old (=only) files. Rephrased, Snow-Leopard Preview was really good: please could I have it back?

iMac

Posted on Nov 7, 2011 11:51 AM

123 replies

Tony T1

Level 6

10,247 points

Nov 17, 2011 4:26 PM in response to jdaw1

jdaw1 wrote:

> You should downgrade to Snow Leopard or get the free Adobe Reader for Mac

How? My 27" 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 Mac came with Lion. The Apple store says that Lion jams the PRAM in a awy that prevents the downgrade. Please advise.

or..... Adobe Reader for Macintosh

jdaw1 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 17, 2011 11:04 PM in response to Tony T1

Thank you, but Adobe Reader doesn’t open typical camera products like JPGs, GIFs, PNGs.

Tony T1

Level 6

10,247 points

Nov 18, 2011 5:45 AM in response to jdaw1

Your last and only hope: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

jdaw1 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 18, 2011 2:12 PM in response to Tony T1

Done.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3472948

A co-author and I are writing a book. Research entailed visiting many archives, and photographing pages of cellar books, and of wine catalogues. Naturally enough, pages were photographed in order: at each archive, oldest books first, and within each book the pages from oldest entry to newest. We have about fifteen thousand pictures, my folder structure on my computer being the same as that on his.

With Snow-Leopard Preview I would go to the folder for that archive, command-A command-O, and all the pictures would open. I could scroll from one picture to the next, either gesturing within the sidebar, or with appropriate keys. About half of all pictures needed rotating, done with command-R. So far, so good. Indeed, so excellent.

Now to my new Mac, a 27" beauty that came with OS Lion. The large screen is to see big pictures at the same time as editing the words of the book. And again, command-A, command-O, and scroll away. Ooooh: that picture is at ninety degrees: command-R. Annoying rhythm-breaking dialog box asks whether I want to unlock it (no, never ever change my original pictures, just never) or duplicate it (or, uselessly, cancel). Duplicate. So now there is a new window with just that picture, rotated. About half of all pictures need rotating, so quite quickly my screen is a disorganised mess of one-picture windows.

I have owned a Mac since 1988, and am really familiar with Mac usage. Please, how can I have a bulk open of pictures, in order, which are not altered by Preview, which are easily rotated (no dialog box), and which post-rotation remain in the right order? No new files; and no changes to the old (=only) files.

Rephrased, Snow-Leopard Preview worked; Lion Preview has destroyed my workflow. I now must fight the software rather than use the software. Please, please, add some setting that allows me to rotate things in Preview without it being deemed a change. No duplication, and, very important, no changing my original pictures (which are to be inviolate).

Thank you for your feedback on Mac OS X.

We cannot respond to you personally, but please know that your message has been received and will be reviewed by the Mac OS X Team. If we need to follow up with you on your ideas for improving Mac OS X, we will contact you directly.

jdaw1 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 22, 2011 2:12 PM in response to jdaw1

Problem solved. Don’t rotate pictures — just tilt head.

My Mac has changed from a joy to use into a tool the inadequacies of which I must suffer.

Tony T1

Level 6

10,247 points

Nov 22, 2011 6:12 PM in response to jdaw1

Problem solved. Don’t rotate pictures — just tilt head.

No, silly, just tilt the monitor! 😉

jdaw1 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 22, 2011 11:05 PM in response to jdaw1

Apple is wedded to the new duplicate-tamper model. It’s not a Hollywood marriage: it will last. Perhaps for only a few years, perhaps longer. Good or bad, users are stuck with it. We must make the best of it.

But can Apple see that Preview is different to most programs? Spreadsheet software is used to change a small number of files. Typically one or a few per day. Preview is used to see (even to see rotated) very many files. In my case, in a busy evening, most of a thousand. Reverting a small number of spreadsheet files is not so painful; reverting hundreds of images that have had trivial changes (typically rotation) is far worse.

Please could the participants in this marriage make a special rule for Preview. Perhaps it could have an ‘inviolate originals’ tick somewhere? Please?

Ziatron

Level 5

4,214 points

Nov 22, 2011 11:13 PM in response to Tony T1

This is only a security risk if you allow others access to your Mac

There are situations where others can access your Mac without your permission. This is why 10.7 is less secure than 10.6.

Ziatron

Level 5

4,214 points

Nov 22, 2011 11:15 PM in response to jdaw1

Good or bad, users are stuck with it. We must make the best of it.

I am not "stuck with it", I switched to 10.6, and love it!

Nov 23, 2011 12:06 AM in response to jdaw1

jdaw1 wrote:

Do not tamper with my files—not all of which are strictly mine—except by my command, or with my permission.

This is exactly the point. Apple doesn't own your files.Where does it say in the End User Agreement that you're giving Apple carte blanche to make irreversible changes to your files without asking?

So far I haven't had an answer to that question.

Nov 23, 2011 12:08 AM in response to jdaw1

jdaw1 wrote:

NWhen the popular press catches up with your mistake, your reputation will be badly dented.

Or maybe even worse. Either way it's only a matter of time.

Nov 23, 2011 12:13 AM in response to jdaw1

jdaw1 wrote:

I want the OS never to change my files without my explicit consent.

Precisely. You wouldn't let anyone physically take your documents - any or all of them - and make changes to them. I don't understand how Apple has acquired the right to do that with my digital documents. What did I agree to? Where is it in the End User Agreement ? Can someone point me to that?

Nov 23, 2011 12:33 AM in response to Ziatron

Ziatron wrote:

Good or bad, users are stuck with it. We must make the best of it.

I am not "stuck with it", I switched to 10.6, and love it!

Me too. I'm boycotting Lion.

Nov 23, 2011 12:44 AM in response to jdaw1

jdaw1 wrote:

Apple is wedded to the new duplicate-tamper model. It’s not a Hollywood marriage: it will last. Perhaps for only a few years, perhaps longer. Good or bad, users are stuck with it. We must make the best of it.

But can Apple see that Preview is different to most programs? Spreadsheet software is used to change a small number of files. Typically one or a few per day. Preview is used to see (even to see rotated) very many files. In my case, in a busy evening, most of a thousand. Reverting a small number of spreadsheet files is not so painful; reverting hundreds of images that have had trivial changes (typically rotation) is far worse.

Please could the participants in this marriage make a special rule for Preview. Perhaps it could have an ‘inviolate originals’ tick somewhere? Please?

I can see how, in your case in particular, that a feature like this would drive you mad. I have been getting around it by importing my pics into iPhoto (sometimes Apeture) and rotating the files there and saving the changed files to a desktop folder, and then they are rotated when I need to insert them. It bypasses Preview, which is a shame, because it's ease of functions was always it's big attraction. Another feature that will take time to adjust to.

Best Of Luck

Tony T1

Level 6

10,247 points

Nov 23, 2011 5:11 AM in response to Tom in London

Tom in London wrote:

jdaw1 wrote:

I want the OS never to change my files without my explicit consent.

Precisely. You wouldn't let anyone physically take your documents - any or all of them - and make changes to them. I don't understand how Apple has acquired the right to do that with my digital documents. What did I agree to? Where is it in the End User Agreement ? Can someone point me to that?

If I issue a ⌘R on my document, how is that not explicit consent to change the document?

The confusion is that we have gotten used to using a file that is opened as a temporary file, only to be made permenant with a ⌘S. Well, that was just bad practice, we should have been working on a copy ("Duplicate") for this purpose. In any event, Versions makes is very simple to get back to where we were ("Revert Document").

These changes are for the better.

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Rotating pictures in Preview