Preview (macOS)

Preview

Preview 8.0 running on OS X 10.10 Yosemite
Developer(s) Apple
Stable release
9.0 (OS X version) / August 19, 2016 (2016-08-19)
Development status Active
Operating system OS X
License Proprietary
Website apple.com

Preview is the image viewer and PDF viewer of the OS X operating system; it enables users to view and print digital images and Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Like Mac OS X itself, it originated in the NeXTSTEP operating system from NeXT.[1]

Preview uses Apple's implementation of the PDF specification, the Aqua graphical user interface, the Quartz graphics layer, and the ImageIO and Core Image frameworks.

Supported file types

Preview can open the following file types:

  • AI - Adobe Illustrator Artwork files
  • BMP – Windows Bitmap files
  • DNG – Digital Negative files
  • DAE - Collada 3D files
  • EPS – Encapsulated PostScript files (after an automatic conversion to PDF)
  • FAX – faxes
  • FPX – FlashPix files
  • GIF – Graphics Interchange Format files
  • HDR – High Dynamic Range Image files
  • ICNS – Apple Icon Image files
  • ICO – Windows icon files
  • JPEG 2000 – JPEG 2000 files
  • JPEG – Joint Photographic Experts Group files
  • OpenEXR – OpenEXR files
  • OBJ – Wavefront file
  • CR2 – RAW Image file used by Canon Cameras
  • PS – Adobe PostScript files (after an automatic conversion to PDF)
  • PSD – Adobe Photoshop files
  • PICT – QuickDraw image files
  • PDF – Portable Document Format version 1.5 + some additional features
  • PNG – Portable Network Graphics files
  • PNTG – MacPaint Bitmap Graphic files
  • QTIF – QuickTime image files
  • RAD – Radiance Scene Description files
  • RAW – Raw image files
  • SGI – Silicon Graphics Image files
  • TGA – TARGA image files
  • TIF (TIFF) – Tagged Image File Format files
  • XBM – X BitMap files
  • PPT – PowerPoint files
  • STL – STereoLithography 3D format

The version of Preview included with OS X 10.3 could loop animated GIFs via an optional "play" button that could be added to the toolbar. With OS X 10.4, Preview lost playback functionality and animated GIFs would instead display as individual frames in a numbered sequence.[2][3]

Features

Editing features - PDF

As of OS X 10.9.2 Preview does not support ISO-standardized PDF (ISO 32000), and when saving, destroys aspects of PDF files without warning to the user.[4]

Preview can also encrypt PDF documents, and restrict their use; for example, it is possible to save an encrypted PDF so that a password is required to copy data from the document, or to print it. However, encrypted PDFs cannot be edited further, so the original author should always keep an unencrypted version.

Some features which are otherwise only available in professional PDF editing software are provided by Preview: It is possible to extract single pages out of multi-page documents (e.g. PDF files), sort pages, and drag & drop single or multiple pages between several opened multi-page documents, or into other applications, such as attaching to an opened email message.

PDF and TIFF documents can also be annotated and supplied with keywords, and are then automatically indexed using OS X's system-wide Spotlight search engine.

OCR PDF document creation —usually from scanned physical documents— in order to make their text searchable, is not available with Preview, though sometimes the scanner or all-in-one printer used to obtain the document image often has some manufacturer software to do this.

Editing features - Image files

Preview offers basic image correction tools using Core Image processing technology implemented in Mac OS X, and other features like shape extraction, color extraction, cropping, and rotation tools.

Import and export

Preview can directly access image scanners supported by OS X and import images from the scanner. Preview can convert between image formats; it can export to BMP, JP2, JPEG, PDF, PICT, PNG, SGI, TGA, and TIFF. Using OS X's print engine (based on CUPS) it is also possible to "print into" a Postscript file, a PDF-X file or directly save the file in iPhoto, for example scanned photos.

Beginning with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Preview restricts the Format option popup menu in the Save As dialog to commonly used types. It is possible to access the full format list by holding down the Option key when clicking the Format popup menu. (GIF, ICNS, JPEG, JPEG-2000, Microsoft BMP, Microsoft Icon, OpenEXR, PDF, Photoshop, PNG, SGI, TGA, TIFF)

New Features in Version 7

Preview 7.0 screenshot

A new "edit button" where the picture can be edited is introduced in Version 7. The "edit button" allows options to insert shapes, lines, do cropping, and among other things.

See also

References

  1. ↑ NeXTSTEP promotional brochure from 1995.
  2. ↑ Use Preview to play animated GIFs
  3. ↑ Preview 3.0.1 Help: Viewing animated GIFs
  4. ↑ Duff Johnson. "Apple's Preview: Still not safe for work". Retrieved 2014-04-07.
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