Tabs in Preview not working

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Level 1

25 points

Tabs in Preview not working

I have an iMac and a MacBook Pro both running High Sierra 10.13.4 On the iMac, opening multiple documents in Preview opens them in tabs. However, on the MacBook Pro, it doesn't and the "Show all tabs" option is greyed out.

The "Prefer tabs when opening documents" under the Settings-> Dock is set to always.

Why doesn't the tab function work on my MacBook Pro and how can I get it to work? It's driving me nuts and any help would be appreciated.

MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID, macOS High Sierra (10.13.4)

Posted on May 23, 2018 1:44 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

zeanne Author

Level 1

25 points

May 24, 2018 2:37 PM in response to jdo_apple

OK, I did the macOS Recovery and then applied all available updates. The problem still existed. Verified that the Dock settings were correct so decided to go through all the Preview preferences. Under Preferences -> Images, I went through all the windows options and the "Open each file in its own window" did the trick. Not very intuitive but enabling that setting disabled the sidebar and showed everything in tabs.

Thank you to all of you who provided suggestions for this problem.

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Answer 2

Joseph_S.

Community Specialist

May 23, 2018 1:54 PM in response to zeanne

Hello zeanne,

Thanks for that info and choosing the Apple Support Communities. If I understand correctly, you are unable to open documents in tabs in the Preview app on your MacBook Pro, but you don't have this same issue on your iMac. You can figure out if unexpected behavior is related to a user file or setting by trying to reproduce the issue from another user account. This process includes creating a new user account on your MacBook Pro, logging in to it, and testing for the issue.

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

Next, use safe mode to start up your Mac as it does the following things:

Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

Loads only required kernel extensions

Prevents startup items and login items from opening automatically

Disables user-installed fonts

Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

Log into your user account on your MacBook Pro and test the issue while in safe mode and then restart normally and test the issue again.

Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac
Limited graphics performance in OS X recovery or safe mode

Cheers!

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Answer 3

raina_b22

Community Specialist

May 24, 2018 7:08 AM in response to zeanne

Thanks for replying, zeanne, and that additional info, it really helps! Since you're still having this issue, you can make a backup of your personal data and put a fresh copy of macOS on your Mac using macOS Recovery mode, as that will overwrite the files causing the issue in the Preview app.

Back up your files with Time Machine
How to back up your Mac - Official Apple Support
How to reinstall macOS

Have a great day and thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!

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Answer 4

jdo_apple

Community Specialist

May 24, 2018 10:41 AM in response to zeanne

Good question, zeanne! Usually personal data and applications are not affected by reinstalling macOS in Recovery mode, so making a backup of this data would be a way of making sure your personal data is safe. If you want further help with this process, please contact Apple with this link:

Contact Apple Support

Take care!

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Answer 5

zeanne Author

Level 1

25 points

May 23, 2018 5:01 PM in response to Joseph_S.

Hello Joseph,

Thank you for replying so promptly. Unfortunately, neither of the above things worked. I created a new user on my laptop, verified the tabs setting under Settings -> Dock, created 2 screenshots and opened them in Preview. The "Show tabs" was greyed out and the two images were not displayed in tabs but with the sidebar.

I then restarted the MacBook Pro in safe mode and tried again. Exactly the same result. What is confusing me no end, is that I bought my iMac and my laptop at the same time. I setup the MacBook first and then used the Migration Assistant to build the iMac so, theoretically, they should both be identical. Everything is identical, it is only Preview that is not working correctly.

Do you have any other ideas as to what I could look for or try?

Thanks, Zeanne

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Answer 6

zeanne Author

Level 1

25 points

May 24, 2018 10:04 AM in response to raina_b22

Hello Becky,

I have looked up about macOS Recovery mode but it is not clear whether I will lose all the data on my machine or not. If I go through the Recovery mode option, will I lose all my preferences, settings, installed programs etc? The explanations are not clear as to what exactly gets overwritten in Recovery mode.

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Tabs in Preview not working

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