Preview in macOS Big Sur is destroying PDFs • Hacker News Board

Re: Preview in macOS Big Sur is destroying PDFs

#321

Post by interestica » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 4:24 PM UTC

dkonofalski wrote: post #313

interestica wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a big issue is that 'preview' is used as just a pre-view. The metaphor is that you haven't actually opened/viewed the file yet 'for real'. Yet, preview has morphed into a program that makes changes to files even without any kind of save dialogue.

Are you confusing Quick Look with Preview? Preview is not just for PDFs and allows you to view, annotate, and edit lots of document types...

No, really. Preview. Yes, it can open everything (I don't know where I suggested that it is only for PDFs?)

But it doesn't act like other editors. There's no save dialogue when you, for instance, rotate a PDF. The term 'Preview' in other programs, like when using a scanner or other text editors, is a non destructive type of viewer. Just a viewer. "preview before you make changes"

But preview on OSX changes that.

Re: Preview in macOS Big Sur is destroying PDFs

#322

Post by crazygringo » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 7:03 PM UTC

smartbit wrote: post #281

crazygringo wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, that was another nightmare with Books. I tried keeping syncing on for a year, but ultimately switched back to a local library. It worked 99% of the time. But then every few weeks it would overwrite my newer-annotated version of a PDF with an older one, and I'd lose chapters' worth (in one case an entire books' worth) of highlights. It was infuriating. It had to be some kind of iDrive sync bug. It seems insane…

> I'd lose chapters' worth (in one case an entire books' worth) of highlights. It was infuriating. It had to be some kind of iDrive sync bug. That hurts, sorry to hear. iCloud drive supports files sync for files 50GB or less in size. Have you experienced sync issues with iCloud drive too? Or with Dropbox?

Nope, no data loss issues with iCloud Drive files directly (or Dropbox).

My hypothesis is that Books does something wonky with metadata for extra sync logic, like it depends on reading the last "last page read" record but then sometimes fails to write that, and then loses the pointer to the new version altogether. I can't be sure, but I can't think of any other explanation.

Re: Preview in macOS Big Sur is destroying PDFs

#323

Post by kekeblom » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 7:11 PM UTC

I had an issue recently where the form contents filled and saved with Preview.app would not show up in acrobat reader. I've encountered this in two cases so far, with two completely different documents.

Re: Preview in macOS Big Sur is destroying PDFs

#324

Post by norswap » Sat, Dec 19, 2020, 1:41 AM UTC

mulmen wrote: post #134

I have learned to be scared of my MacBook. Seemingly safe behavior can cause permanent damage. It does completely unexpected things, apparently by design. I do not put my pictures in the ~/Pictures directory for fear of what the newest app will do to “improve” them for me. I fully expect it to apply lossy compression to my files without asking. This is after Photos or whatever it was called at the time mangled the da…

Apple, who sold hardware because they had the best software, now sells software because they have the best hardware.

Funny how things change.

Re: Preview in macOS Big Sur is destroying PDFs

#325

Post by junon » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 10:23 AM UTC

cratermoon wrote: post #262

junon wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from potential vulnerabilities (bugs), no. Font formats are declarative. The various tables that define conditionals et al have no ability to run arbitrary code, and certainly do not have any concept of scripting and the like.

Well... https://www.extremetech.com/internet/308167-windows-zero-day...

First line says "except vulnerabilities".

Re: Preview in macOS Big Sur is destroying PDFs

#326

Post by junon » Tue, Dec 22, 2020, 10:25 AM UTC

dialamac wrote: post #205

junon wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from potential vulnerabilities (bugs), no. Font formats are declarative. The various tables that define conditionals et al have no ability to run arbitrary code, and certainly do not have any concept of scripting and the like.

Ttf has bytecode for a stack interpreter with conditionals and loops (jump instructions and loop all). That’s declarative in the sense that all code is data, but i would say it is imperative.

Yes but it is a strict set of very limited codes, nothing which gains access to the machine a la syscalls.