In Yosemite, when I look at a pdf file in Preview the fonts are blurry compared to Mavericks. The upper image below is a screenshot using Mavericks, and the lower one is from Yosemite.
I tried fiddling with LCD font smoothing in preferences, and restarting, but nothing changed. Anyone else having this issue, and maybe found a solutions?
I have the same issue, but made some interesting observation. If you open the PDF in single page view, and then scroll forward to get to next page, then the rendering is OK on the page that is being scrolled away.
This is by no means a solution! Rather, it is an indication that the blurry rendering is interpreted by Apple as being an improvement to what we consider to be the correct rendering. It seems like the correct rendering is 'cheaper' computationally than the newer blurry rendering. This is yet another argument to go back to the rendering of Mavericks!
I'm having the same issues, quite annoying frankly. I hope that apple is working on a fix.
Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.
Is the problem fixed in the newest 10.10.2 update?
No, it isn't. Actually I'm guessing if Apple even cares about the problem, because it only affects non-retina-users.
I am using mavericks (MB Pro 2011), and was about thinking to get a retina display or a new eye examination, because the pdfs were blurred !! I just googled and found this tread. The same applies here, when adjusting height the fonts get blurred and when adjusting width they appear sharp again, ridiculous. Needs a quick fix from Apple. Apple support can you hear?
Problem still exists in 10.10.2. Have reported to Apple Feedback. Hope they fix it. Weird that it looks great if you open the file via Safari.
yes please file a bug via https://bugreport.apple.com/. The more of us making some noise there, the greater the likelihood they will go and fix this.
It's easy: just call it "pdf blurry on Yosemite", refer to this discrussion thread or to https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/2joxlh/os_x_yosemite_1010_bug_thread/cle isr8 and attach a system report.
To obtain a full System Information Report on OS X:
1. Select "About This Mac" from the Apple Menu
2. Click the “More Info…” button on the About This Mac window
3. Click “System Report…” on the next About This Mac window
4. Select "Save…" from the File menu (cmd-s)
5. Change the file name and save location as needed
6. Click the "Save" button
try turning off "smooth text and line art"
This does not work for me. In fact, it goes from this:
to that:
I filed the bug with Apple and they say it's a duplicate. Hopefully they are working on it.
There is a work-around to be found at this stackexchange answer: It basically suggests replacing Yosemite's PDFKit with Mavericks' PDFKit. However, this workaround will likely be undone by any operating system upgrades.
I have just tried this and can confirm that it works.
Yup, I noticed that too - same now under El Capitan, so no change there.
Im having similar problem.
Had the same problem with last Imac, late 2009.
I use two screens, now on a Imac 27, retina, late 2015. The secondary screen is a Dell U2412M. (Thunderbolt-Hdmi)
In some windows text gets "out of fokus" - does not matter what font is used.
In preview some files like word, excel doesn`t "clear up" after 2-3 seconds, but remain out of fokus. Pdf- files clear up after 2 sec..
Pretty big problem if u ask me. Everything works fine on the Imac- screen. Wordfiles, PDF- files, everything clears up pretty fast. But not on the secondary screen. Have tried different cables and so on..
I've noticed the same issue with Preview 8.1 under Mac OS 10.11.3.
PDFs that used to be crisp at all magnifications and at Actual Size are now blurry and pixelated at all sizes including Actual Size. They're on the verge of unreadable, as documents such as bank statements leave me guessing as to what the numbers really are.
Does Apple really want me to install Adobe Acrobat Reader? Ugh.
Thank God I'm not the only one! For the longest time I thought my eyes were going bad or that my macbook screen (non-retina) was going bad. I ran Yosemite, now I'm on the latest of El Crap-itan. I noticed this too and it is so ANNOYING. I think preview is an amazing app, but there needs to be more attention given to it. Who knows....maybe they'll drop support for preview like they did Aperture. Nothing surprises me anymore. They have been getting sloppy the past 5 years.
Thank you for the other commenter who mentioned Safari's pdf-reading capabilities that is not harmed by the bug that plagues Preview.
Font in Preview blurry
