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User profile for user: UniAce@mac.com
UniAce@mac.com Author
User level: Level 1
21 points

Stop Preview from opening PDFs as tabs in one window?

I am on Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.1. If I have Preview running and it already has a few PDF windows opened, when I open a new PDF from the finder, Preview will open that PDF as a tab (at the back/right) in one of the already-opened windows. I do not want it to do this. I want each file to be opened in its own window.

The problem happens even with PDFs that have nothing to do with each other and are not in the same folder.

Things I have tried:

  • Quitting Preview and reopening it. Problem persists.
  • In Preview's Preferences, in the Images tab, I have "When opening files" set to "Open each file in its own window." Problem persists.
  • In System Preferences, in the Dock preferences, I have "Prefer tabs when opening documents" set to "Manually." Problem persists.

Any help? Thank you.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13.1)

Posted on Dec 14, 2017 8:55 AM

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User profile for user: johnkzin2
johnkzin2
User level: Level 1
9 points

Posted on Dec 31, 2017 1:45 PM

The preference options to force opening files in a new window instead of a new tab, do not appear to be present in 10.13.2 anymore. This is bad. Not everyone is somehow window-phobic and wants to have all experiences be tab based. Please stop forcing tabs on us.

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User profile for user: CarlAVII
CarlAVII
User level: Community Specialist

Dec 15, 2017 2:28 PM in response to UniAce@mac.com

Hello, UniAce@mac.com.

It's my understanding that you want Preview to open PDF's in separate windows instead of being opened in the tabs of one window. Thank you for listing what you've tried so far. Let's see if we can narrow this down. Try seeing if this happens in a test user account and safe mode. Here are the links just in case:

How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac


Make sure to check the preferences for Preview again when signed in with the test user account.

Let me know if this helps.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities

Cheers!
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Stop Preview from opening PDFs as tabs in one window?

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