Preview in OS X 10.11 says I don't have permission to open JPGs

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Level 1

22 points

Preview in OS X 10.11 says I don't have permission to open JPGs

Since upgrading to OS X 10.11, I have been having problems with Preview giving an error saying I don't have permissions to open JPG image files. This happens after I have been using for awhile opening images. If I quit Preview and then try to open the images again, it works fine for awhile, then the error will reoccur. Sometimes the error reoccurs fairly quickly after opening only 20-30 images and sometimes it lets me open 200+ images before having the problem.

Attached is a screen capture showing what the error message on top of a window showing this error for all 39 images I was trying to open. I quit preview and tried to reopen the same images again and it worked fine.

Any ideas what is going on and how to fix this?

-Landy

MacBook Pro, OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), 16GM RAM

Posted on Oct 26, 2015 6:53 AM

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Answer 1

Littered

Level 1

73 points

Oct 26, 2015 6:57 AM in response to LandyA

Hello Landy,

Have you saved the file from the internet? And you could view the image from the internet? Take a screenshot.

How to take a screenshot:

Command + Shift + 4

If that's not the case, change the .jpg into .png . If that doesn't work, something might be wrong with the preview.

For more information, view this article:

The file “100_1377.JPG” couldn’t be opened because you don’t have permission to view it.

Hope it helps,

Littered.

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Answer 2

LandyA Author

Level 1

22 points

Oct 26, 2015 8:06 AM in response to Littered

This particular image was downloaded from the Internet, but most of my images are from my iPhone or my Canon Rebel T2i or XT cameras. If the issue was related to an untrusted file from the Internet, then quitting Preview and restarting would not clear the problem and let me open the files. This happens when trying to open images I have taken as well. Once Preview get in this "mode", it will not let me open ANY file of type .jpg or .pdf. I have not tried other file types, but I suspect they would not open either.

I reviewed the discussion link you included and have tried most of the suggestions their, like Disk Repair (including with Disk Warrior) and deleting the Preview files in Library that one commenter suggested. None of these solve the problem.

The problem didn't start for me until upgrading to OS X 10.11, but in reading through the threads, it seems like others have had similar problems since at least OS X 10.9, so it is interesting that Apple has not found a way to resolve this. It must only happen to a small number of us!

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Answer 3

Littered

Level 1

73 points

Oct 26, 2015 3:31 PM in response to LandyA

Hello Landy,

Sorry the information couldn't be useful. But I have found another way that might help.

Please look further in this article:

Repair disk permissions with Disk Utility - Apple Support

It might be that something had gone wrong with the disk permissions. Follow the instructions and it might do it.

Hope it helps,

Littered.

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Answer 4

LandyA Author

Level 1

22 points

Oct 26, 2015 8:25 PM in response to Littered

I have tried booting from the restore partition and then running Apple's Disk Utilities to repair the disk. When that didn't work, I purchased Disk Warrior and tried their disk repair utilities, which is supposed to repair permissions as part of what it does. I also let DW rebuild the disk index (which seems to have made disk access noticably quicker), but that didn't help either.

As I said, I think this has more to do with something in Preview than an actual disk permissions issue, since it works fine for awhile, then goes into a mode where it will not open anything. Quitting Preview and then restarting Preview fixes the problem for awhile. That is why I had hoped deleting the \Library files related to Preview would do something, but it made no difference.

Thanks for the ideas...

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Answer 5

Littered

Level 1

73 points

Oct 26, 2015 9:00 PM in response to Littered

Hello Landy,

Sorry that I couldn't help. Perhaps you should ask another user to help you out. It seems like my ability ends here. ; ;

Sorry I couldn't help,

Littered.

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Answer 6

LandyA Author

Level 1

22 points

Oct 27, 2015 7:31 PM in response to Littered

Thank you for the ideas. I was hoping that by posting the question here, I would be asking LOTS of users for help. You are just the only one who has offered help so far. I may even be forced to take the drastic step of going to a Genius at the Apple Store or calling Apple Support.

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Answer 7

Apr 24, 2016 6:08 PM in response to LandyA

Hello,

I was troubleshooting with Raul of Apple, and I noticed that if I moved the problem file to the Downloads folder, then I could open it up in Preview. Also, more importantly, only Preview had the problem. Other applications could open up the file. Also, Preview gave an permissions error when trying to save a new file created from the clipboard. Those were the hints for the solution:

Here is the solution:

Bring the Finder to the front, and hit Go>Go To Folder in the pull down menu

Enter ~/Library/ in the field, and hit the Go button or just the return key

Open the Containers folder.

Scroll down if needed to find the folder com.apple.Preview

Trash this folder

Now go to the problem jpg file, double click it, and it should now open with Preview.

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Answer 8

Tomba.

Level 1

4 points

Apr 26, 2016 7:08 AM in response to MacPlus1986

We have an iMac at our office running OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 that encounters the same annoying "...couldn't be opened because you don't have permissions" message that only affects Preview, and unfortunately, we discovered that deleting com.apple.Preview, along with a few additional files in the Library folder, fixed the issue only temporarily. Quitting and reopening Preview has had the same temporary outcome for us.

We also encounter a corresponding Preview error in addition to the permissions message. We use Preview daily in a production workflow to open and quickly proof Postscript color separations. Whenever the permissions error messages start reappearing, Preview begins to show "Postscript file conversion failed" messages when attempting to open postscript (.ps) files created by Adobe Illustrator. Just like the permissions error, this problem is unique to Preview.

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Answer 9

May 1, 2016 8:27 PM in response to MacPlus1986

After i followed the steps, I forced close preview and open it again - and it worked!

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