Preview not opening PDFs in El Capitan

Hello everyone,

I just updated my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) to OS X El Capitan (10.11) and Preview stopped working with PDFs. It works well with images (JPEGs, EPSs, PNGs, etc.) but it is unable to open PDFs anymore.

I found this was happening because I opened a PDF and it called Safari instead of Preview. I changed the default app for PDFs back to Preview but it did not work. What's strange is that, even when I changed the default app to Preview, the icons for PDF refer to Safari...

Anybody else facing the same issue?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 11, 2015 2:41 PM

48 replies

Nov 9, 2016 12:35 PM in response to greg_al

There is a temporary fix.

Open the apple menu and open force quit

select "Preview" and force quit

reopen the pdf file

If you are running another language then you can see that "preview" is in english and that seems to cause the issue maybe an outdated version of preview thats conflicting but unfortently this is something only aplle can fix.

b_sharp

Level 1

9 points

Nov 23, 2016 3:05 AM in response to greg_al

Similar problem for me: Preview works fine and is the default reader for PDFs, but Safari can't visualize any PDF, neither from the web nor from my desktop.

Any Idea?

I have El Capitan on a MacBook Pro 17"(2011)

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Nov 23, 2016 4:30 AM in response to greg_al

if you select a "real" pdf and CTL+click it, then choose open with from the contextual menu, then select Preview:

does it open the pdf?

if yes: set default app to Preview in getinfo again, then restart.

if no: restart the mac while holding the Shift key: then do the same, then restart.

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Preview not opening PDFs in El Capitan