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Preview, the Mac app people forget about

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Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#151

Post by JKCalhoun »

apnsngr wrote: post #62
kevinsundar wrote: post #18

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…

There is also the built in Image Capture app that works with most flatbed scanners or printer/scanner combos. It has its own quirks, but works better than any manufacturer software I’ve ever tried.

Agree. Works out of the box with every Epson flatbed scanner I've attached.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#152

Post by Anechoic »

pimlottc wrote: post #10
jitl wrote: 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…

Another great related feature is how easy it is to “print” to Preview and save as PDF. It makes it very easy to save copies of confirmations, payment receipts, etc when sites don’t provide a PDF link. If you haven't tried it, make sure you are printing using the system dialog, and select "Open in Preview" in the drop-down list in the lower-left corner.

Another great related feature is how easy it is to “print” to Preview

BTW, if you are trying to save a protected PDF from Adobe reader that won't let you save it in an unprotected format that's compatible with Preview, there is "print" document trick you can try since Adobe Reader blocks the system print dialog: pause the queue for your printer (if you don't have a printer, just "install" a network postscript printer), and print the document. The document is then saved to a non-secured temp PDF file in /var/spool/cups, to a filename starting with "d" (ls -l -t to find the most recent file). That file is normally deleted after being sent to the printer, but my pausing the print queue, the file is there long enough to copy somewhere. Rename the document, and you're good to go.

This is a trick from the Mac OS X Hints days, and still works, as of at least Catalina.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#153

Post by JKCalhoun »

lordgilman wrote: post #95
nicoburns wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently "Apple’s Core Graphics framework uses the PDF format for its internal vector graphics presentation." https://pspdfkit.com/blog/2020/apple-and-pdf-history/

The memory is mostly lost to time but MacOS X before 10.4 (released in 2005) took PDF screenshots of the desktop.

I think that pissed a lot of people off, ha ha. But if you had multiple displays .... multi-page PDF. PNG still can't do that. :-)

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#155

Post by JKCalhoun »

dschuessler wrote: post #4

Preview is one of the single-best pieces of software I use in my daily life. It manages to be incredibly powerful without bloating the UI while still remaining usable. It is unfortunate the name suggests it being a simple preview application. It's far from it.

I feel like it (when a NeXt app) was literally for previewing print jobs? I was never a NeXT guy though so maybe someone can correct me.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#156

Post by [deleted] »

herodotus wrote: post #53

I really enjoyed working with the Preview team before I retired from Apple. My small group created a private framework that added "document reconstruction" to PDF documents: basically an inferred DOM based on whatever information (mainly geometric) we could use in the PDF document. Our moment of fame game at WWDC 2009, when Bertrand Serlet talked about Snow Leopard during the Keynote. At around the 5:10 mark he talks…

[deleted]

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#157

Post by astrange »

kergonath wrote: post #87
pimlottc wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another great related feature is how easy it is to “print” to Preview and save as PDF. It makes it very easy to save copies of confirmations, payment receipts, etc when sites don’t provide a PDF link. If you haven't tried it, make sure you are printing using the system dialog, and select "Open in Preview" in the drop-down list in the lower-left corner.

> Another great related feature is how easy it is to “print” to Preview and save as PDF. It's an OS-wide feature. Any application can print to PDF without specific support from that app.

Well, you need specific support if you have custom views or views that draw bitmap images, otherwise it won't look great.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#158

Post by Macha »

Etheryte wrote: post #3

I use many of these features often and it often blows my mind just how much better Preview is with PDFs than any other program. It's leaps ahead of anything Adobe's Acrobat spyware ever was and it comes with your OS right out of the box.

SumatraPDF is what you want as a windows user (yes, ignore the website looks like it's from the 90s). No upsells like acrobat/foxit, better compatibility than pdf.js like your browser.

Linux I mostly use evince (included if you use a Gnome based distro), but it's clearly the weakest of Preview/SumatraPDF/evince, as someone who uses all 3 regularly. Still better than Acrobat Reader though.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#159

Post by layer8 »

wlesieutre wrote: post #150
layer8 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

View > Show/Hide > Toolbar Items > Show Page Display Tools > Counterclockwise

Yes, that rotates your view of every page in the document. It can't rotate a page independently and even if you wanted to rotate every page you can't save the change back to the PDF file because it's functionally "rotate view" even though they hadn't renamed it that yet in 2020. Appreciate the attempt to help, but Acrobat Reader is just shitty. I know it's a deliberate choice to be useless in pursuit of selling more…

Well, Adobe Reader is a viewer, not an editor (that’s Adobe Acrobat). For light editing like rotating pages I’d recommend the free version of PDF-XChange Editor: https://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-editor (Persistent rotation is on the “Organize” tab.)

It’s easy for Apple because they don’t sell a competing product. Adobe has to balance providing a useful free viewer against a paid editor (or payed extra functions). There’s certainly a lot I’d like to see improved/included in Adobe Reader, but I also recognize that they are in a different market position than Apple.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#160

Post by Tagbert »

junglistguy wrote: post #24

Still don't know how to preview all photos in for example "downloads" Osx UX is a messsssss

Have you tried switching that folder to "Gallery" view? It display a list of all images and then a large preview along with an info panel to the right. Seems like it should give you everything you need. You can then switch back to your normal view when done so it doesn't mess up how your folder is setup.

https://media.idownloadblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/m...

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