My Preview App Is Not Responding On Mac
Preview is the default application in macOS for image files, like JPG and PNG, and PDF files. While it’s primary purpose offers you a quick and easy way to see various documents, it has several pretty cool editing and markup features you may not even be know are there.
Supports iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. (Also available on the Mac App Store) Create Set Lists and switch between your songs with a quick swipe. You can also transpose your songs to the key you will be performing them in, as well as setting a capo position which will automatically transpose the chords for you. MySongbook supports AirTurn and PageFlip ‘hands-free’ page turners.
How to view photos and PDFs in Preview on Mac
Preview is the default app for viewing images and PDF files on your Mac. So, any time you double-click on, or otherwise launch, one of those files, it’ll open in Preview.
If, for some reason, another app has taken over responsibility for a certain file type, and you want to give it back to Preview, you make the change right in the Finder.
- Right/Control — click on the file you want to open.
- Hover on Open With…
- Click Preview
How to crop documents in Preview on Mac
Preview can help you do some simple edit your photos and PDFs.
- Open the file you want to crop in Preview.
- Click the Show Markup Toolbar button. It’s the button with the little toolbox icon.
- Click, hold, and drag on the file to create a selection.
- Click, hold, and drag on any of the blue dots to resize the selection if needed.
- Use the Command — K keyboard shortcut to crop the image.
How to show markup tools in Preview on Mac
Preview has several tools to choose from to edit your photos including Selection, Sketch, Text, Color Adjust, and more. You just need to show the Markup Toolbar to see them all.
- Open the file you want in Preview.
- Click the Show Markup Toolbar button. It’s the button with the little toolbox icon.
How to highlight PDFs in Preview on Mac
- Open the PDF you want to highlight in Preview.
- Click the Highlight button.
- Select the text you want to highlight.
- Repeat as necessary.
How to annotate a document in Preview on Mac
Preview can allow you do various different types of annotations to documents, so whether you’re going through a draft of a proposal or marking papers, you can make all the notes and marks you want.
- Open the file you want to annotate in Preview.
- Click Tools in the top menu bar.
- Hover over Annotate
- Click on the type of annotation you wish to perform.
From here you have a few options of what you can do, here’s a quick breakdown.
Highlight Text
Allows you to highlight any selected text.
Underline Text
Allows you to underline any selected text.
Strike Through Text
Allows you to strike through any selected text.
Rectangle
Places a rectangular on the document, which you can move around and resize.
Oval
Places an oval on the document, which you can move around and resize.
Line
Places a line on the document, which you can move around and resize.
Arrow
Places an arrow on the document, which you can move around and resize.
Polygon
Places a Polygon on the document, which you can move around and resize.
Star
Places a Star on the document, which you can move around and resize.
Text
Places a Text box on the document.
Speech Bubble
Places a Text box on the document, which you can type a message inside the bubble.
Mask
Places a layer mask on the document, so you can make a passage stand out.
Loupe
Creates a magnifying circle, perfect for calling out small icons.
Note
Creates a note, so you can leave comments.
How to add your signature to a document in Preview on Mac
If you ever type up letters or need to sign a digital contract you can save your signature in Preview and then add it to any document you want. You can add your signature using a the trackpad or even using the built-in camera.
- Open the file you want to sign in Preview.
- Sign your name on a piece of white paper
- Click the Show Markup Toolbar button. It’s the button with the little toolbox icon.
- Click the Sign button.
- Click Camera
- Hold that **signed paper* up to the camera.
- Click Done.
- Click your signature.
- Reposition and resize the signature to your liking
How to share documents from Preview on Mac
- Open the file you want to share in Preview.
- Click the Share button.
- Choose the option you want. Your choices include:
- Messages
- AirDrop
- Notes
Questions?
Anything else you’d like to know about Preview? Let us know in the comments below.
macOS Catalina
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Lawsuit time
Google faces privacy lawsuit over tracking users in apps without consent
Law firm Boies Schiller Flexner has filed another lawsuit against Google. This time, the law firm has accused Google of tracking users in apps even after opting out.
Preview App Not Responding
There’s a frustrating issue with macOS, where the app you’re using stops working and spits out an error message saying it isn’t open anymore. This mostly happens with Preview, but it can affect any app on your Mac, including Finder, Safari, the App Store, and others.
When this error occurs, the app you’re using becomes unresponsive and the following alert pops up:
Despite the error message, your app still appears as though it’s open. There may be a dot beneath it in the Dock or it may still have open windows. But you’re unable to use it. With Preview, that means you can’t open PDFs, screenshots, or other images anymore!
My Macbook Is Not Responding
This article explains how to fix this error and get your apps working again. We’ve even gone so far as explaining how to fully reinstall macOS, in case this issue keeps cropping up again and again.
Contents
- 1 Quick Tips
- 2 Step 1. Force Quit Preview
- 3 Step 2. Reboot your Mac
- 4 Step 3. Remove your Preview preferences
- 5 Step 4. Update or reinstall macOS
Quick Tips
Here are the basic steps to fix Preview when macOS tells you it’s not open anymore, we’ve explained each step more fully in the article below:
- Force Quit Preview using command+option+escape.
- Reboot your Mac, using a hard reboot if necessary.
- Remove your Preview preferences from the Library.
- Update and then reinstall macOS using Recovery Mode.
Related:
Step 1. Force Quit Preview
The first thing to try and do — although it doesn’t always work for this error — is to close the unresponsive app. Despite the error message telling you Preview “is not open anymore,” it usually is. But it has frozen and needs to be reopened.
There are two ways to Force Quit an app in macOS: using the Force Quit window or using Activity Monitor. If either of these methods works, make sure you reboot your Mac before opening Preview again.
How do I close Preview using the Force Quit window?
- Press the command+option+escape keys to open the Force Quit window.
- If the escape key on your Touch Bar is unresponsive, go to > Force Quit from the menu bar.
- Select Preview from the list of applications.
- Click Force Quit, then reboot your Mac.
How do I close Preview using Activity Monitor?
- Open the Activity Monitor application in one of these ways:
- Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities.
- Or go to Launchpad > Other.
- Select the CPU tab, then click ‘Process Name’ to sort the processes.
- Find and select Preview in the list of processes.
- Click the stop sign button in the top-left of Activity Monitor.
- Choose Force Quit, then reboot your Mac.
Step 2. Reboot your Mac
If it’s not possible to close Preview using Force Quit or Activity Monitor, you can close it by rebooting your Mac instead. This forces any apps that macOS says are not open to restart, bypassing the error message.
The safest way to reboot your Mac is using a soft reboot, but that may not be possible if the unresponsive app cannot close. If that’s the case, you have no choice but to use a hard reboot. We’ve explained both reboots below.
How do I soft reboot my Mac?
- From the menu bar, go to > Shut Down.
- Uncheck the box to reopen windows when logging back in.
- Confirm you want to Shut Down.
- Wait at least 30 seconds for your Mac to power off.
- Briefly press the power button to turn your Mac on again.
How do I hard reboot my Mac?
- Performing a hard reboot may result in lost data or corrupt files. If possible, save your documents and back up your Mac first.
- Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds or so until the screen goes black.
- Wait 30 seconds, then briefly press the power button again to restart your Mac
- In the alert window that appears, click Cancel to avoid reopening any apps.
Step 3. Remove your Preview preferences
If you still get the same error message — ‘The application “Preview.app” is not open anymore’ — you may need to remove some of your preference files.
These are small files that macOS automatically creates to store your settings for each application. You can usually remove them without losing any data or causing problems, but we recommend you back up your Mac first just in case.
Follow each of the suggestions below, testing Preview again after each one.
We advise you to move the preference files to a new folder on your Desktop for safekeeping, that way you can always put them back if something goes wrong. If this works and your issue is fixed, go ahead and delete those preference files.
How do I remove my Preview preferences?
- Open Finder, then from the menu bar select Go > Go to Folder.
- Type the following location and click Go:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preview.plist - Move the highlighted preferences file to your Desktop for safekeeping.
- Reboot your Mac and test Preview again.
- If the error persists, repeat the steps above for each of the following files:
- ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview
- ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.quicklook.ui.helper
- ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preview.LSSharedFileList.plist
- ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preview.SandboxedPersistentURLs.LSSharedFileList.plist
- ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.Preview.savedState
Step 4. Update or reinstall macOS
Hopefully, that’s all you need to resolve the ‘“Preview.app” is not open anymore’ errors. But if you’re still experiencing problems, there might be a bug in your operating software. You can fix this by updating or reinstalling macOS.
We suggest you update your Mac to the latest version of macOS first. Apple frequently releases patch updates to fix bugs like this, but you can’t benefit from them if you don’t keep your machine up-to-date.
If you’re already running the latest version of macOS or if an update doesn’t solve anything, you need to reinstall macOS using Recovery Mode. This shouldn’t affect your data — although we recommend you back up your Mac first anyway.
Reinstalling macOS rewrites every line of code in the operating software on your Mac.
How do I update to the latest release of macOS?
- Connect your Mac to a working Internet connection.
- Go to System Preferences > Software Update to check for new updates.
- Download and install any updates your Mac finds.
How do I reinstall macOS?
- If you haven’t already, make a new backup using Time Machine.
- Use the following instructions to boot your Mac into Recovery Mode:
- Go to > Shut Down and confirm you want to Shut Down you Mac.
- Wait 30 seconds for your Mac to fully power off.
- Briefly press the power button, then immediately hold command+R.
- When the Recovery Mode screen appears, click Reinstall macOS.
- Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the macOS reinstallation.
Fingers cross, that’s the last of the ‘“Preview.app” is not open anymore’ messages. Check out this post if you need more help with crashing apps on your Mac.
And let us know in the comments if you found these suggestions helpful!
Dan is a freelance writer based in South West England.
He spent two years supervising repairs as a Genius Admin for Apple Retail and uses that knowledge to keep our troubleshooting guides up to date.
Long before that, Dan turned to Apple products from a musical background. Having owned iPods for years, he bought a MacBook to learn sound recording and production. It was using those skills that he gained a first-class Bachelor of Science in Sound Technology.
