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Preview, the Mac app people forget about

fourth-wall.co.uk

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Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#111
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently discovered that the signing feature can use an associated iPhone or iPad (with stylus!) as the signing device where you write your signature.

You can also sign a piece of paper and hold it up to the camera to create the signature it uses.

I tell people this is one of those features which is why people are fans of macOS.

Stuff is just part of the system for years and years and we take it for granted when other systems don’t have these kinds of features.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#113

People also forget that you can use Preview to scan documents from your scanner rather than using whatever shitty software came with yours. Also, Preview > File > Import from iPhone > Scan Documents gives you a virtual scanner instead of having to install one of those "scanner" apps on your phone. Its built into your iPhone already! I also use it frequently to change image file types. You can also make a digital vers…

I've always used the built-in Image Capture app to do tjr scanning, mainly because the app seems to open automatically when I plug in my USB flatbed scanner.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#114

People also forget that you can use Preview to scan documents from your scanner rather than using whatever shitty software came with yours. Also, Preview > File > Import from iPhone > Scan Documents gives you a virtual scanner instead of having to install one of those "scanner" apps on your phone. Its built into your iPhone already! I also use it frequently to change image file types. You can also make a digital vers…

For scanning there's also Image Capture.app which also comes with the OS. I haven't tried using it with the phone though, just a normal printer/scanner.

I like Image Capture.app when I want to scan a multi-page document to one PDF

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#115
post #7

Preview is one of those essential things that sets macOS apart from the other operating systems, and contributes to that “Mac has good UX” vibe. Last time I opened the Windows equivalent, it tried to sell me on Microsoft’s PDF-alike format… and asked me to connect Office365. Another tiny macOS feature I love is that you can drop a file icon on any Open or Save dialog to select the file in the dialog. On other OSs, th…

I can't stand when I have to deal with a PDF on Windows on my office computer where I have the free copy of Acrobat. You can right click on a page and it's got "rotate" buttons up at the top. But when you click on one, it takes a second to think about it and then opens a popup to offer you a free 7-day trial of the Pro version. Rotating a page is too powerful a feature for Adobe to not try and sell it to you. https:/…

Correct, you get what you pay for. Acrobat Pro supports advanced rotations for only $14.99 per month.

https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/pricing.html

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#117
post #45

Pretty crazy if you think about it. Windows users are relegated to third-party apps, and even they don't come close to that in functionality. Merging and rearranging is such a pain, I've even resorted to using web apps on questionable sites sometimes.

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Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#118
post #46

One massive I'd add to this list that got added recently - being able to copy and paste text out of images. I'm so often sent a screenshot with a url in the url bar, I can now copy and paste that screenshot of a url. It's been massively the past month since I noticed it. Not sure how long it's been there, I assume not long, maybe last OS update.

That is called Live Text and was introduced in Mac OS 12 Monterey. It is available for any app that uses the standard libraries to display images so you will see it in other apps, too, like Safari. https://www.macworld.com/article/351669/macos-monterey-how-t...

It’s one of those transformative little features. But it’s especially great in PDFs where it’s not a “real” PDF but just a collection of page sized images so you couldn’t normally select the text before without OCR software of some sort.

Having it built into the OS is so handy.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#119
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Finder can do this pretty easily. 1. Open the downloads folder 2. view>as icons 3. view>use groups, view>group by>kind 4. scroll down to the images section, hit the 'show all' at the top right of this section 5. drag the icon size slider at the lower right to make icons huge, scroll around Alternatively 1. open the downloads folder 2. view>as list/column 3. view>use groups, view>group by>kind 4. scroll down to th…

1. Install Windows 2. Double-click the first image

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Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#120
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Finder can do this pretty easily. 1. Open the downloads folder 2. view>as icons 3. view>use groups, view>group by>kind 4. scroll down to the images section, hit the 'show all' at the top right of this section 5. drag the icon size slider at the lower right to make icons huge, scroll around Alternatively 1. open the downloads folder 2. view>as list/column 3. view>use groups, view>group by>kind 4. scroll down to th…

1. Install Windows 2. Double-click the first image

How can I find the image I'm looking for in a folder of 100+? On Mac it's just Spacebar + down arrow until you find it. If you're aware of a way to do this on Windows without installing anything you'll be a lifesaver.
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