Why won't preview open pdf files anymore?
Why won't preview open pdf files anymore?
Mac mini, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)
Thanks Sam - sorted!
48 replies
Can you describe what happens when you try to open PDF files with Preview? Any visual indication something is happening, any error messages?
Selecting open from the file menu, all .pdf files are grayed out. Double clicking a pdf causes Preview.app to open, but it doesn't open the file. I have reinstalled the OS and restored from Time Machine, it stayed fixed for 2 days. There is no Abode software installed.
Do a backup.
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. You may not find them all. Restart and test.
Containers/com.apple.Preview
Containers/com.apple.quicklook.ui.helper
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.
Tried that twice w/ and w/o rebooting, didn't work.
If you create (temporarily) a new user account and log in as that user, does Preview open PDFs in that temporary user account?
The new user account works correctly. So, it's something in my user library? What?
Well the easiest way to fix it will also be the most involved and take the longest (create a new account, move all your files to the new account, delete the old account).
But before we go to that extreme, have you tried just fixing permissions?
In the Terminal.app, put in the command:
sudo chown -R dave /Users/dave
subbing in your actual username for dave.
Then in Disk Utility, click on your drive, and then under First Aid, click Verify Disk Permissions and then Repair Disk Permissions.
No change, still won't open .pdf files.
Try the Safe Mode to see if it works there and then restart normally.
Didn't work in Safe Mode or after reboot.
Then I would recommend moving your files over to the new account, and then deleting your old account, since the new account can use Preview just fine.
It probably is just some corrupt or wrong-permissions issue in your user folder, but it would be difficult to track down what exactly the issue is.
Suddenly we have the SAME problem on all our THREE Macs!
Do you know what caused this problem? (I'm afraid it was an update that cused it, but which one?)
How did you fix it finally?
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I did the Verify/Repair and it showed the following:
Verifying permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Group differs on “Library/Printers/InstalledPrinters.plist”; should be 80; group is 0.
Permissions differ on “Library/Printers/InstalledPrinters.plist”; should be -rw-rw-rw- ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Warning: SUID file “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent” has been modified and will not be repaired.
User differs on “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”; should be 0; user is 244.
Group differs on “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”; should be 0; group is 244.
Permissions verification complete
Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD
”Group differs on “Library/Printers/InstalledPrinters.plist”; should be 80; group is 0.
Permissions differ on “Library/Printers/InstalledPrinters.plist”; should be -rw-rw-rw- ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “Library/Printers/InstalledPrinters.plist”
Warning: SUID file “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent” has been modified and will not be repaired.
User differs on “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”; should be 0; user is 244.
Group differs on “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”; should be 0; group is 244.
Repaired “private/var/db/displaypolicyd”
Permissions repair complete
Many thanks for any help!
After reading some hundred threads I found the easy ( ! ) solution (though no explanation about what had caused the problem):
Close all running apps, launch Terminal and enter the following (no modification required):
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.fram ework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
(Or manually delete the LaunchServices preference file:
Quit all open applications and navigate to ~/Library/Preferences. Locate com.apple.LaunchServices.plist, delete the file, then reboot your Mac. This should accomplish the same result.)
For details see https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7047045?answerId=28279823022#28279823022 which leads to http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/rebuild-launchservices-fix-duplicate-entries-os-xs-o pen-menu/.
This solved my question!
(... but why did it happen? And on all 3 Macs at the same time...?)
Hi,
I tried all of the things in this thread and none seemed to solve the problem.
Also, the guest user has the same problem with preview not being able to open a pdf. If I open "Preview", I can see the pdf files but they are greyed out and I cannot select them.
Sadly, the LaunchServices console command does not work for me.
Strange thing is, this happened today on my 2 Macs! (Mac Pro and MacBook Pro)
Adobe Reader is installed on my Mac Pro, so I first thought that this was the problem. On My MacBook Pro, Adobe isn't installed but I still experience the same thing.
Preview is also not selectable as "open with" under File Info.
Any help is welcome.
Why won't preview open pdf files anymore?