Pdf's are rendering as black rectangles in Preview.app. Notice the thumbnails in the screenshot. They also render thusly if I tap the spacebar in finder for a Quick Look. I have tested 20 or so pdf's. I have not tested all of the pdf's on this system, obviously (far too many). Opening the exact same file in, e.g., Firefox displays it properly.
Mac mini, macOS High Sierra (10.13)
I was unable to reproduce this problem with Sierra or High Sierra.
I suggest you contact the developer of the software making the PDF and see if they can provide an answer because the problem is not caused by Preview,
Same issue here. All B&W scanned PDFs display black in Preview.app. I scanned a document on 3 different scanners, and got the same result, all black. My machine that has this problem is MacBook Pro Early 2011, hard drive replaced with 500GB Samsung SSD, running High Sierra. Other PDF viewers on the same machine such as PDF Expert display it correctly. My another mac iMac 2015 5K can display the same PDFs with no issue. I already report this bug to Apple.
This is very interesting. I can open your PDF just fine, but I have problems with viewing images in some of the PDFs on my machine....so with this non-reproducibility this seems a quite random problem.
I am using the app papers 3 to manage and read scientific articles stored in PDF format. Now I start getting these blacked out images and first I thought that it was a problem in papers 3, however when I open the PDF in preview, the same images are blocked out. However, I am not sure whether papers 3 is using components of preview to display PDF-content. I already tried reloading the affected PDFs, but the problem persists.
Would be great if some apple expert could look into this...
Hi, I had the same problem with my macbook pro 2011 when I upgraded to High Sierra.
Finally, I just calibrate my display color and the black rectangle disappears.
Go to the System Preferences -> Displays -> Color -> Calibrate.
Luis,
Just booted the system. I shut it down last night. Boot lasted ~ 16min, which is much longer than normal. The grey screen with the Apple logo and the progress bar was visible the whole time. After logging in, it was necessary to open the Displays preference pane and tweak the underscan, which had reset back to zero. My display is a Sony TV connected via HDMI. The black pdf problem is gone, as is my black login screen problem, which is interesting. I have scanned /var/log/system.log, nothing jumps out at me.
All's well that ends well.
Here ya go. I have edited the sudoers file. Flash is out of date.
EtreCheck version: 3.4.5 (455)
Report generated 2017-10-06 07:35:05
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime: 2:07
Performance: Excellent
Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.
Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.
Problem: No problem - just checking
Hardware Information: ⓘ
Mac mini (Mid 2011)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
Mac mini - model: Macmini5,1
1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-2415M) CPU: 2-core
8 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
Handoff/Airdrop2: not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Proxy: HTTP
Proxy: HTTPS
iCloud Quota: 158.15 GB available
Video Information: ⓘ
Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB
SONY TV 1920 x 1080
Disk Information: ⓘ
HGST HTS721010A9E630 disk0: (1 TB) (Rotational)
[Show SMART report]
EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB
HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 999.35 GB (746.21 GB free)
(disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
USB Information: ⓘ
USB20Bus
hub_device
Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub
Microsoft Microsoft 3-Button Mouse with IntelliEye(TM)
Apple, Inc Apple Keyboard
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
USB20Bus
hub_device
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ
Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
System Software: ⓘ
macOS High Sierra 10.13 (17A405) - Time since boot: about one hour
Configuration files: ⓘ
/etc/sudoers, File size 1333 but expected 1563
/etc/sysctl.conf - File exists but not expected
/etc/hosts - Count: 2
Gatekeeper: ⓘ
Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ⓘ
/Library/Application Support/PeerGuardian
[not loaded] xxx.qnation.PeerGuardian (1.1.11 - SDK 10.2) [Lookup]
System Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] 9 Apple tasks
[loaded] 165 Apple tasks
[running] 114 Apple tasks
System Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[failed] com.apple.rpcbind.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-10-02)
[failed] org.apache.httpd.plist (Shell Script 4f12bccd - installed 2017-07-15)
[not loaded] 33 Apple tasks
[loaded] 184 Apple tasks
[running] 111 Apple tasks
Launch Agents: ⓘ
[loaded] com.privateinternetaccess.osx.PIA-VPN.plist (? 87063a21 53eb995e - installed 2017-09-23) [Lookup]
[loaded] org.gpgtools.Libmacgpg.xpc.plist (Lukas Pitschl - installed 2016-06-28) [Lookup]
[loaded] org.gpgtools.gpgmail.enable-bundles.plist (Shell Script d032aea - installed 2015-09-21) [Lookup]
[loaded] org.gpgtools.gpgmail.patch-uuid-user.plist (? 84ce07f2 410547e5 - installed 2015-09-21) [Lookup]
[loaded] org.gpgtools.macgpg2.fix.plist (Shell Script d7ac5146 - installed 2016-06-28) [Lookup]
[running] org.gpgtools.macgpg2.shutdown-gpg-agent.plist (Shell Script df7bd0cf - installed 2016-06-28) [Lookup]
[loaded] org.gpgtools.updater.plist (Lukas Pitschl - installed 2016-07-17) [Lookup]
[loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist (Apple Inc. - XQuartz - installed 2012-09-27) [Lookup]
Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2016-05-12) [Lookup]
[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2016-05-12) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 bba28f1 - installed 2016-06-28) [Lookup]
[not loaded] com.apple.installer.cleanupinstaller.plist (? 1963bf56 0 - installed 2017-09-29)
[running] homebrew.mxcl.tor.plist (? cedfb48b 43fad70c - installed 2017-09-22) [Lookup]
[loaded] net.waterroof.rules.plist (Shell Script 85162d8e - installed 2013-05-04) [Lookup]
[loaded] org.gpgtools.gpgmail.patch-uuid.plist (? 42fc83f8 410547e5 - installed 2015-09-21) [Lookup]
[not loaded] org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist (Apple Inc. - XQuartz - installed 2012-09-27) [Lookup]
User Launch Agents: ⓘ
[running] homebrew.mxcl.privoxy.plist (? f44f8877 668cd273 - installed 2016-09-25) [Lookup]
[running] ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist (? ef87e93c dbc058f8 - installed 2014-04-18) [Lookup]
User Login Items: ⓘ
Caffeine Application
(/Applications/Caffeine.app)
iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-09-30)
(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ
Silverlight: 5.1.50709.0 (installed 2016-09-21) [Lookup]
FlashPlayer-10.6: 22.0.0.209 (installed 2016-07-13) [Lookup]
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-10-02)
Flash Player: 22.0.0.209 (installed 2016-07-13) Outdated! Update
Safari Extensions: ⓘ
[enabled] 1Password - AgileBits - https://agilebits.com/onepassword (installed 2015-07-03)
[enabled] Ghostery - GHOSTERY, Inc. - https://www.ghostery.com/ (installed 2017-04-16)
[not loaded] DuckDuckGo - DuckDuckGo - http://duckduckgo.com (installed 2015-07-10)
[not loaded] Blur - Abine, the online privacy company. - http://www.abine.com (installed 2015-08-20)
3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ
Flash Player (installed 2016-06-28) [Lookup]
GPGPreferences (installed 2016-07-17) [Lookup]
MacFUSE (installed 2008-12-19) [Lookup]
Time Machine: ⓘ
Skip System Files: NO
Mobile backups: OFF
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
HD: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 253.13 GB
Destinations:
WD drive [Local]
Total size: 2.00 TB
Total number of backups: 14
Oldest backup: 10/1/17, 9:17 PM
Last backup: 10/6/17, 6:50 AM
Size of backup disk: Adequate
Backup size 2.00 TB > (Disk used 253.13 GB X 3)
/System excluded from backup!
/bin excluded from backup!
/sbin excluded from backup!
Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
6% WindowServer
1% com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
1% kernel_task
0% TextEdit
0% ruby
Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
671 MB kernel_task
558 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
289 MB Safari
206 MB WindowServer
193 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ
Input Output Process name
157 MB 9 MB openvpn
189 KB 37 KB mDNSResponder
0 B 141 KB ypbind
10 KB 3 KB netbiosd
16 B 16 B ruby
Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ
10.96 com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
6.24 WindowServer
1.28 com.apple.WebKit.Networking
0.90 ruby
Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
3.63 GB Available RAM
60 MB Free RAM
4.37 GB Used RAM
3.57 GB Cached files
0 B Swap Used
Software installs: ⓘ
GeoGebra 5: 5.0.386 (installed 2017-09-23)
1Password: 6.8.2 (installed 2017-09-23)
Install information may not be complete.
Diagnostics Information: ⓘ
2017-10-05 23:05:52 ScreenSaverEngine.app Crash [Open]
Standard users cannot read /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports.
Run as an administrator account to see more information.
That particular pdf was a scan created by Image Capture, the macOS app. It appears to be the scans created with Image Capture that have this problem. Just viewed some downloaded pdf's that rendered properly.
[I edited this post].
Hmmm, that seems to indicate there's something in particular that Preview may not like about those PDFs; can you find one that renders improperly out on the web somewhere, or is it only ones generated by Image Capture?
Here ya go: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vy758gcifk276a5/periodic%20table.pdf
It's a scan of a page with a sketch of the periodic table. Renders as a nice, solid black rectangle in Preview. I am considering downgrading the OS. High Sierra has too many problems for me at the moment. I should have waited to upgrade.
I did the scans with Image Capture on the same system (a mac mini). The problem is specific to this system. I can access the disk over my home network with macOS file sharing then view the same files using Finder Quick Look and Preview on a macbook pro running High Sierra and they render fine. Oh well.
I also have no problem opening the pdf you posted.
Makes me think there might be a software conflict with something you may have installed on your mac.
I suggest you run the diagnostic tool Etrecheck and post its report here.
I don't see anything too crazy but I tend to avoid all 3rd party network and system utlis when possible. When you said 16min to boot I thought you may have a failing HD but that does not appear to be the case.
I'm having the exact same problems with pdfs generated by a variety of different sources. It can NOT be a single app that is generating bad pdfs but rather high sierra has a bug in rendering pdfs. Hopefully this will be fixed soon as many of us need access to our pdfs. One work around, of course, is that Adobe acrobat seems to open the files correctly.
I have exactly the same problem, and I believe it is somehow related to the new file system of High Sierra, APFS. This is why I am almost sure about it:
I have Dropbox installed on my iMac and MBP, both machines upgraded to this buggy High Sierra. However, on my iMac, the home folder is on a separate drive (that is placed in an OptiBay frame in the place of the dead Superdrive), and that HDD is still in HFS+, only the OS is on a separate SDD, which was turned to APFS. So, my Documents folder is still on a HFS+ drive. And the same (Dropbox-synchronized) file opens from HFS+ (iMAc) and appears black from APFS (MBP). So, I will downgrade to Sierra-HFS+, and think million times before upgrading again...
I think it is unlikely to be APFS related, but you don't have to believe me.
You can test your hypothesis that it is APFS rather easily.
Take a file that opens correctly on one machine, copy it to a thumb drive and try to open it from the thumb drive on the other machine.
If it does not open, then it has nothing to do with APFS. If it opens correctly, then copy this file from the thumb drive to somewhere in your APFS formatted drive and try to open it from there.
pdf rendering as black rectangle
