Preview.app: AAAAARRRGH!

M

Mike Butler (media)

Sophomore
Jan 12, 2011
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Why does it have to be such an ordeal to get a new copy of Preview.app? I'm sure I one of many who have lost/accidentally deleted etc. this handy little app off their Mac. It is just the thing for opening, printing, and doing minor basic edits (flip, rotate, crop) on one or more image or PDF files and for saving them to another format (JPG to PNG for example). With this program missing, these files default to opening in Color Sync Utility, which does none of the above (except opening it, of course).

It is nowhere to be found in the apple.com world (nor does it seem to be available for download anywhere I've looked), and I can't imagine why. It comes free on every Mac, and it's not as if it can be used on any other kind of machine! I tried grabbing copies of the app from other machines of varying ages, but they didn't work (guess it should be no surprise that the one from my Snow Leopard-fueled MBP was a no-go).

Some have suggested using a program called "Pacifist" to find and open the package for Preview on the original Install CD, but no such luck. And I am certainly not going to do a full OS reinstall on this G4 tower running 10.4.11 (especially when the install CDs actually contain OS9)! I tried a piece of shareware called "JustLooking," but it is named aptly because that's all it's good for. So I'm stuck using Photoshop (or Acrobat)!

WTF, Apple! Epic FAIL!
 
Re: Preview.app: AAAAARRRGH!

So are you asking someone to help a brudda out?

v5.01

http://67.210.127.131/waldo/preview.zip

For a great app when you need a little more functionality than preview, but not full photoshop, I really recommend graphic converter (shareware). An awesome tool.

waldo

EDIT:
Ah, darn, I didn't read thoroughly; never mind that download! Have you tried selecting 'custom install' and then selecting only preview? One other idea: connect an external drive and install the OS to that, then after that runs its course, just pull preview from there.

I don't know if I'd call it a full apple FAIL. Apple has never been about backward compatability or maintaining legacy OSes (feels odd to say that about 10.4 since it's not exactly 'old', but that has always been the apple way). I do feel your pain, but I've never actually known anyone to delete an application before (and I used to maintain a graphics shop with 30 mac users). There's a first time for everything! Good luck.
 
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Re: Preview.app: AAAAARRRGH!

I'm not sure if it will help, but here is the link to the 10.4.11 update download. Perhaps running it again may prompt you to a way to get preview, as it contains numerous updates for PDF and image handling, viewing and syncing.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24901?viewlocale=en_US

I don't know if I would call it an "EPIC FAIL" on apples part, seeing as it requires the end user to DELETE the program to end up in this situation. Given that 10.4.11 was released in 2008, it's 2011 now, and I presume that without your deleting this program, your computer is still serving your needs well otherwise... I would have to ask, Just how much back-end support are you expecting from a company that you purchased from 4-5 (or more if you have OS9 install disks) years ago? What do you feel is reasonable.... 10 years of legacy support, 15?

Also, have you tried calling apple support or making an appointment at the Genius Bar of your local Apple store? Often times they DO keep software this old on harddrives right there at the Genius Bar, and they will gladly sort you out if you bring your computer in for an appointment, likely free of charge. Either way, it's worth giving them a ring, they DO like to help you if they can.
 
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