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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

#271

Post by chipotle_coyote »

rovolo wrote: post #240
hnlmorg wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cmd-Shift-G opens a fuzzy complete path input The problem is that's not going to be an easy thing to remember. It's not an obvious hotkey and nor is it even memorable that the hotkey even exists. There's no UI hints that it does. And when you use hundreds of different pieces of software every day, from CLI tools to complicated desktop applications, there's no way anyone can remember every single hotkey and flag for…

> The problem is that's not going to be an easy thing to remember. 'G' for "Go to folder". cmd-G is standardized as "Find Next" across apps, so you add "shift" to do an app-specific behavior. > I want to be able to view hidden files on demand. cmd-shift-'.' . The '.' matches the prefix for auto-hidden files.

> cmd-shift-'.' . The '.' matches the prefix for auto-hidden files.

This is definitely not behavior I'm seeing in either file picking dialogs or Finder windows.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#273

Post by uhuruity »

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…

> 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.

As I read this I thought of another such feature - how pressing Space with a file selected (in either Finder or any 'choose a file' dialog window) presents a quick preview of the contents of the file. Extremely low friction way to quickly check out the contents of a file, almost like the GUI version of `head`

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#274

Post by chipotle_coyote »

hnlmorg wrote: post #223
jitl wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Cmd-Shift-G opens a fuzzy complete path input - “Show hidden files” is a preference you can change. Once you’re comfortable with the CLI and know the paths you care about for a task, in what cases do you prefer a GUI open dialog on other systems?

> Cmd-Shift-G opens a fuzzy complete path input The problem is that's not going to be an easy thing to remember. It's not an obvious hotkey and nor is it even memorable that the hotkey even exists. There's no UI hints that it does. And when you use hundreds of different pieces of software every day, from CLI tools to complicated desktop applications, there's no way anyone can remember every single hotkey and flag for…

> The problem is that's not going to be an easy thing to remember. It's not an obvious hotkey and nor is it even memorable that the hotkey even exists. There's no UI hints that it does.

While I think Apple's UIs do have annoyingly hidden functionality, this particular one is something you can learn by using Finder -- it's the keyboard shortcut for "Go to Folder…" in the "Go" menu. A lot of the "View" and "Go" keyboard shortcuts there work in file picker boxes, but it's true you're not going to be able to do actual file management there.

A lot of "hidden" keyboard shortcuts in macOS really aren't hidden, though; they're either right there in the menus or in the Help menu. If you're in Finder, the first item in that menu is "macOS Help," which opens a user guide…and that User Guide talks about a lot of things. And, it also links to the fairly extensive "Mac keyboard shortcuts" support article. This may be the technical writer in me, but I kinda wish people would read manuals a little more than they do. :)

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#275

Post by mortenjorck »

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.

Such a great feature. I’ve been using it for years and have what is effectively a filing cabinet of documents in digital form.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#277

Post by chii »

PeterCorless wrote: post #108

I have no idea why the author says this is an "app people forget about." I use it constantly. Hundreds if not thousands of times a month. It is always open. It is my faithful companion. It flows through my bloodstream. I breathe and dream and gain my nutrients and sunlight via screenshots and edits in Preview.

> "app people forget about."

as in, there's no hype or news about preview.app - it just gets used quietly in the background amidst the news cycle of the next great apps.

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#278

Post by needle0 »

> * 'Get Info' or CMD + I > * Select the icon in the top left of the dialogue box > * Copy it using the keyboard shortcut CMD + C

This sequence of steps to obtain the file's icon art has been consistent for a very long time, going far back as early as Macintosh System 7 (1991).

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#279

Post by dylan604 »

samstave wrote: post #255
dylan604 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sometimes wonder if Preview being so much easier than Acrobat isn't an intentional poke at Adobe for all the times Adobe strayed from the one true path of Apple. That whole skipping a version of software release because Adobe didn't pay attention to words from up on high to quite using deprecated language surely didn't sit well.

Quoted post unavailable.

I've tried on multiple attempts now to decipher WTF this means.

Essentially, Adobe === BAD in your opinion, is that it?

Re: Preview, the Mac app people forget about

#280

Post by tbrock »

GraphenePants wrote: post #115
wlesieutre wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Why doesn’t Microsoft take the hint and make a decent pdf viewer / editor thingy?

They seemed to get the hint on the terminal finally…

Handle basic viewing, editing, signatures. Etc…

While we are at it a GTK one would be great in Gnome too…

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