10 Tips To Make The Most Of Preview On Mac.
Preview is one of the standard applications that comes preinstalled on your Mac. For most users, it’s just an image viewer that lets you open and view the different types of images available on their Mac.
However, it is not. The Preview app on Mac does more than just preview images. This application has a number of functions that are only available to you if you are ready to reveal them and use them for your tasks.
Some of these little-known preview features include the ability to lock PDF files, add signatures to files, and even edit images. Once you learn how to use these features, you no longer need to use any third-party applications that you may have installed on your computer.
Edit multiple files at once
One of the most time consuming tasks you could ever face is probably having to make the same changes to multiple files on your Mac. Opening each file and making changes is just a waste of time, especially when you have an application like Preview available on your Mac.
With Preview on your Mac, you can make changes, such as changing the image resolution for multiple files at once. There are other uses as well.
- Select the images you want to resize, right-click any of them, choose Open With, choose Preview, and the preview will open.
- Click the Tools menu at the top and select Adjust Size.
- Enter a new size for multiple images and click OK.
All images you select will now have the new resolution.
–
Add signature to your files
You no longer need to sign a technical document, scan it, crop the signature, and then sign the digital document. With Preview, you can directly sign any of your files on Mac.
- Launch the PDF in the Preview app.
- Click the Show Markup Toolbar icon near the top.
- Find and click the signature icon in the toolbar. If you do not already have a signature, click Create Signature to create one.
Then you can put your signature anywhere on the document.
Convert files from one format to another
Tasks like converting files often require you to find and install a third-party application on your Mac. However, if your file is one of the supported Preview formats, you can convert it to another format using Preview itself.
- Open the file in the Preview app on your Mac.
- Click the File menu at the top and select the Export option.
- On the next screen, you will see a Format dropdown menu. Here you can choose a new format for your file. Choose any of the available options and click Save.
Your file will be saved in the format of your choice on your Mac.
Add password protection to your files
You can password protect your sensitive files using the Viewer application.
- Open the PDF file using the preview.
- Click the File menu and select Export as PDF.
- Select the Encryption checkbox, enter your password and click Save.
Now you need a password to open your file.
Create a new file from your clipboard
If you have something saved on the clipboard, you can use that content to create a new file in preview mode. The app will use the contents of your clipboard for the new file you create.
- Launch the preview application on your Mac.
- Click the File menu and select New from Clipboard. Alternatively, press Command + N.
It will create a new file based on your clipboard items.
Add new pages to your PDF
If you have an existing PDF document that you want to add new pages to, you can do so with a preview.
- Run the PDF in preview mode.
- Click the icon On the Edit menu, select Paste, and then click Page From File.
- Select a new page on your Mac that you want to add to your file.
The page you just added is now part of your existing PDF file.
Remove pages from a PDF document
Sometimes you may need to get rid of a page from a PDF document. The preview can also help you with this.
- Open the PDF in preview mode.
- Select the page you want to delete, click the Edit menu at the top, and select Delete.
- Press Command + S or click the File menu and choose Save to save the file.
Remove background from photos
This preview feature is the least talked about, but it is great for helping you remove unwanted backgrounds from your images. It works in much the same way as the background remover tool in Photoshop.
- Open the image file in preview mode.
- Click on the Instant Alpha tool in the toolbar.
- Select the background of the image with the tool and click Remove to remove the background.
Access EXIF ??data for your photos
If you haven’t removed the EXIF ??data from your images, you can access this data in the preview app on your Mac.
- Open an image in preview mode.
- Click on the Tools menu and select Show Inspector.
- Select the Exif tab to view the available EXIF ??data for your image file.
Suspend Your Files
The preview also lets you annotate files so you can quickly add elements that help better describe your image.
- Open the file you want to annotate in preview.
- Click the Tools menu and select Annotate. Then select the item you want to add to the file.
Be sure to save the file before closing the application so that your annotations remain.
–