HT201740: Mac Basics: Preview app views and edits images and PDFs

Learn about Mac Basics: Preview app views and edits images and PDFs
Artichoke25

Q: How do you open Preview? I click on the icon and nothing happens

How do you open Preview? I see it in Finder and click on it, then I see it in the dock and click on it. I go to file open and click. Nothing happens.

 

Thanks!

MacBook Pro, iOS 7.1

Posted on Dec 27, 2014 4:41 PM

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Q: How do you open Preview? I click on the icon and nothing happens

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  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Dec 27, 2014 5:35 PM in response to Artichoke25
    Level 8 (49,772 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 27, 2014 5:35 PM in response to Artichoke25

    When Preview starts, it puts up a dialog to pick a document from, and it has a New Document button.

    You may not be able to select from a menu wit it open, but I can't check right now.

  • by Artichoke25,

    Artichoke25 Artichoke25 Dec 27, 2014 5:53 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 27, 2014 5:53 PM in response to Barney-15E

    No dialogue box opens when I click on preview. Nothing happens at all.

  • by Artichoke25,

    Artichoke25 Artichoke25 Dec 27, 2014 5:56 PM in response to Artichoke25
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 27, 2014 5:56 PM in response to Artichoke25

    Preview only opens after I scan something. What I discovered by playing with it is you have to click and drag anything you want to save into Documents in the finder. Then you can find them again.

     

    Or you can find them by searching the Mac, then click and drag them into Documents or wherever else you want them in the Finder.

     

    I guess you can't open Preview. It only appears when you scan something or find something using Search the Mac

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Dec 27, 2014 6:04 PM in response to Artichoke25
    Level 8 (49,772 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 27, 2014 6:04 PM in response to Artichoke25

    No, it works just the same as any other app.

    Does the dot appear under the icon on the Dock?

  • by leroydouglas,

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Dec 27, 2014 6:12 PM in response to Artichoke25
    Level 7 (22,894 points)
    Notebooks
    Dec 27, 2014 6:12 PM in response to Artichoke25

    What happens if you have a jpg or screenshot on your desktop by double clicking?  Does it open.

     

    What if you high lite that pic and control click>Open With>Preview.

     

    Mac Basics: Preview app views and edits images and PDFs - Apple Support

  • by Artichoke25,

    Artichoke25 Artichoke25 Dec 27, 2014 6:21 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 27, 2014 6:21 PM in response to Barney-15E

    There's a dot under the icon in the dock. If I left click, nothing happens. If I right click, I get a box with a few things in it, but not the most recent ones - just kind of a jumble of old stuff. There doesn't seem to be any way to get the full Preview index that I get right after I scan a document.

  • by Artichoke25,

    Artichoke25 Artichoke25 Dec 27, 2014 6:26 PM in response to leroydouglas
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 27, 2014 6:26 PM in response to leroydouglas

    If I double click on the other things in my desktop, they open. I tried dragging Preview onto my desktop to see if I could open it that way, but no dice. Nothing happened.

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Dec 27, 2014 7:18 PM in response to Artichoke25
    Level 8 (49,772 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 27, 2014 7:18 PM in response to Artichoke25

    I Don't know what to do besides reinstalling.

    You could try downloading g the 10.10.1 update and installing that. It may fix it without having to dow load the full OS.

    OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 Update

  • by fpDoug,Helpful

    fpDoug fpDoug Dec 27, 2014 7:57 PM in response to Artichoke25
    Level 1 (80 points)
    Dec 27, 2014 7:57 PM in response to Artichoke25

    On my system, if I double-click Preview in Finder or left-click the icon in the dock, no window opens, but the menu bar at the top of the screen switches to the Preview menu.  From there I can select File->Open or Open Recent to open a window with a file in it.  As others have suggested, I can also open Preview with a file in it by double-clicking on that file in Finder or elsewhere or by right-clicking and selecting Open or Open With.  This is exactly the same behavior I observed under Lion.

  • by Artichoke25,

    Artichoke25 Artichoke25 Dec 27, 2014 8:13 PM in response to fpDoug
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 27, 2014 8:13 PM in response to fpDoug

    Thanks, this is the closest I've come to something that works, but it works in the oddest fashion.

     

    I click Preview in Applications in the Finder and yes, this does change the top bar to the Preview bar. So I click Open recent and get the same wierd jumble of old files that I get by right clicking the icon in the dock. So I click open and there is nothing there but at the top there is a folder icon with a gobbledegook tile and a little drop down menu. On the drop down menu is another gobbledegook title and when I click THAT, I get a menu that actually makes sense and I can search my scanned files.

     

    But what a wierd process.

     

    And this was after getting the Yosemite update, BTW

  • by Jayprog,

    Jayprog Jayprog Dec 27, 2014 8:18 PM in response to Artichoke25
    Level 1 (96 points)
    Notebooks
    Dec 27, 2014 8:18 PM in response to Artichoke25

    From my understanding, Preview opens files of many formats by default. It is Apple's preferred program to open files for previewing and some editing or conversion. Preview is handy but at times if you mess with defaults it won't work as intended.

    Typical example is when you install Adobe, if you select Adobe as the default, every time you click a PFD, it opens in Adobe.

     

    You can change the default by Right Click(Yes! Right Click on Mac i.e Double tap a file you want to open using  2 fingers or click on the file icon with 2 fingers on your track pad), select Open With, if Preview is not the default, scroll to Preview or other and set it as default.

  • by Eric Root,Solvedanswer

    Eric Root Eric Root Dec 28, 2014 4:32 PM in response to Artichoke25
    Level 9 (70,061 points)
    iTunes
    Dec 28, 2014 4:32 PM in response to Artichoke25

    Quit Preview.

     

    Go to Finder and select your user/home folder. With that Finder window as the front window, either select Finder/View/Show View options or go command - J.  When the View options opens, check ’Show Library Folder’. That should make your user library folder visible in your user/home folder. Remove the following.

     

    Containers/com.apple.Preview

     

    Preferences/com.apple.Preview.LSSharedFileList.plist

             

    Preferences/com.apple.Preview.SandboxedPersistentURLs.LSSharedFileList.plist

     

    Saved Application State/com.apple.Preview.savedState

     

    Credit Linc Davis  for this solution.

  • by Artichoke25,

    Artichoke25 Artichoke25 Dec 28, 2014 5:34 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 28, 2014 5:34 PM in response to Eric Root

    Thanks! That's much better. In the library folder in Finder, I only was able to find the first thing you suggested I delete. So I deleted it. Do I need to look elsewhere for the other items on the list?

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Dec 29, 2014 6:29 AM in response to Artichoke25
    Level 9 (70,061 points)
    iTunes
    Dec 29, 2014 6:29 AM in response to Artichoke25

    You are welcome.  Sometimes not all the files exist, so if it is working, you are probably done.