Preview - double click (select word vs. annotate)

cwebber1 wrote:

If I open a PDF in Preview, and want to select a word (presumably to Copy) I DOUBLE-CLICK. Great!!!

However, that behavior has become unreliable.

STEPS:

1. I open a PDF document for purposes of viewing (not editing).
2. I double-click in various places on the document.
   • At first, it merely selects the word (so I can Copy).
   • No Problem!!!
3. I continue to double-click on the document.
   • after about 5 times, depending where I click, Preview suddenly starts interpreting my double-click as an EDIT/ANNOTATE command by putting the document in "Edited" mode and creating a TEXT BOX.
   • This was NOT my intention. I was just double clicking a word, so that I can copy the text.
4. Now click somewhere else. It's very difficult to get of of this mode.
   • Everywhere I click I get another TEXT BOX with a cursor in it.
   • Worse even, now the document is edited, and I have to "Revert Edits" before closing.

I've been using the Double-Click for 20+ years to select words. Now it doesn't work reliably.

What's going on???

Have you ever run the Beta version of El Cap ?

Are you running the latest update 10.11.5 ? Try reinstalling on top of your current OS X Download OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 Combo Update https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1876

Bug Reporter https://bugreport.apple.com/

FWIW, I opened a couple PDFs to test the described behavior and must have clicked on various words 50 times or more in each PDF. It never switched to the Text Tool. When I did choose the Text Tool I only had to move away from its box.

running OSX 10.11.5

Moving away from the Text box does not make it go away. One backspace on the selected Text box does make it, and its content disappear.

Like you, no amount of double, and triple clicks in a PDF invoke the Preview Text annotation tool on El Capitan 10.11.5.

I wasn't clear. I just meant moving away from the text box and clicking or double clicking does not create new text blocks. 😎

Instead of double click to highlight , how about if you click and drag to highlight your text—thus avoiding an edit mode

I agree you shouldn't have to change your behavior. The issue is the problem seems to be local to your machine. I have three Macs, different models, running OSX 10.11.5 and I can't recreate your issue. So something installed on your machine is causing an issue.

cwebber1 wrote:

leroydouglas wrote:

Instead of double click to highlight , how about if you click and drag to highlight your text—thus avoiding an edit mode

Double-Clicking is supposed to select a word.

I've been doing it this way for 20 years, and almost every computer and PED does this. I don't I think I should change my behavior just because one programmer made a mistake. I'm looking for a fix. Not a work-around.

Understood.

Apple Feedback http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Bug Reporter https://bugreport.apple.com/

cwebber1 wrote:

Double-Clicking is supposed to select a word.

Eureka! I managed to reproduce the error after all so It's not just local to your machine. It seems to only happens under certain conditions and how the PDF was formatted. I managed to create the problem by first double clicking on a word, dragging it slightly out of the text block the word is in. I also noticed on one PDF, double clicking on a word can select not just one word but two or more words just as if you triple clicked, but it doesn't occur everywhere.

I would send Apple feedback or a bug report,