macOS 10.12.2 Users Urged to Avoid Using 'Work-in-Progress' Preview App to Edit PDFs

[Abazigal]

While PDF Expert is an excellent product, and I use the IOS version, I'm having a hard time to see a significant difference between the functionality of the Preview and the PDF Expert. Am I overlooking or missing something?

Admittedly, I bought it based on hype and the chief differentiating factor for me was tabbed view for PDFs (nice in fullscreen mode). Otherwise, functionality was similar to preview features-wise.

They would also subsequently add the ability to edit PDFs, but I simply haven't had the opportunity to use it yet.

 

[sracer]

We will miss how great it was during the Leopard/Snow Leopard days.

It was Snow Leopard that finally convinced me to switch over from Windows. Ever since, it seems like a steady march away from what made Macs so attractive... both in terms of hardware, software, and operating system.

And before anyone says that Snow Leopard wasn't all that stable, by the time that *I* made the switch there were point releases that greatly improved things. Snow Leopard with the latest patches/fixes applied is the standard to which I've measured all other releases to. But that's me, others will disagree.

 

[rhett7660]

It was Snow Leopard that finally convinced me to switch over from Windows. Ever since, it seems like a steady march away from what made Macs so attractive... both in terms of hardware, software, and operating system.

And before anyone says that Snow Leopard wasn't all that stable, by the time that *I* made the switch there were point releases that greatly improved things. Snow Leopard with the latest patches/fixes applied is the standard to which I've measured all other releases to. But that's me, others will disagree.

I agree with you to as Snow Leopard is what got me over too. I wouldn't say they have been declining, I think they have changed focus on the OS. I skipped both Lion and Mountain Lion. So far , knock on wood, I have actually liked El Cap and have had no major or for that matter minor issues with the software.

 

[bingeciren]

I noticed the glitches of the Preview (V9.0) with PDF documents but I didn't put the two and two together before I read the news about the "work in progress" problem. Luckily I haven't had a catastrophic file loss or any other serious problem yet but while I was annotating a 200 page document, I noticed that the auto save was causing a lengthy screen flicker and making the editing extremely annoying.

I rebooted my Mac from my CCC backup disk to El Capitan and edited the same document with the Preview (V8.1) and sure enough there was no auto save glitch whatsoever.

I kind of regret upgrading to Sierra but reverting back to El Cap is unfortunately not that easy because of the Photos library incompatibility.

I'll wait for the next Sierra upgrade and test Preview with that. If the problems are still there, then I'll bite the bullet and deal with the Photos library downgrade problem.

Apple world is not what it used to be. It just works (hopefully most of the time but not always).

 

[infantrytrophy]

I just installed (late evening 1/23/2017) macOS 10.12.3 and briefly tested for the problems with scanned PDF files. It appears that at least some of the problems are resolved. I scanned a document with my Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner using the OCR option and saved to a multi-page PDF file. After editing, then re-saving, the file with Preview, the OCR layer in the PDF file is preserved.

Finally, at least some of the PDF problems in macOS Sierra are fixed.

Unfortunately, all of the files that I scanned and edited with Preview under the macOS 10.12.1 and 10.12.2 releases are corrupted.

Why does Apple do these things? PDF functionality under OS X El Capitan and earlier versions worked well. Why did they break it, then fix it after giving some of us fits?

I don't know if the problems with the real estate documents (using ZipForms) have been resolved. If any Realtors who use ZipForms documents reads this, please check after upgrading to macOS 10.12.3 and post your results here. Thanks.

 

[bingeciren]

Allright, I've had enough with Sierra. I'm really annoyed with Apple. I downloaded 10.12.3 and tested the PDF issues. My biggest problem with the Autosave jitters are still there. Other issues may have been solved but when I boot with my El Capitan USB backup disk and test Preview with PDF, I have zero problems.

Also with Safari, from time to time I get the beachballs for a short period of time when I load a new page. I don't know what seems to be the problem but I've heard from some of my friends that they started to experience the same problem after upgrading to Sierra.

I am rolling back to El Capitan. Apple is really becoming annoying. Every upgrade comes with more problems than it solves.

I also found a way to re-create the Photos library without resorting to iCloud from the masters folder in Photos Library. Looks like I'll stay with El Cap as long as I can.

Thank you Apple.

 

[sciencegal]

I have been reading this thread with interest. I do not use a Mac or any Apple product. I have a refurbished Macbook that I use to test files on. If you think the pdf issue is a problem you ought to try developing in Flash.I have been a Flash developer for close to 20 years. I love Flash. I think it is the most elegant authoring software out there. I have developed over 500 teaching animations in Flash. It is like playing music when I work with it. I miss it terribly since it is so vilified with Apple and some of the browsers working so hard to kill it I lost the enthusiasm to develop with it. HTML 5 is like taking a huge, gigantic step backwards. You can produce only things that would have been mediocre in DOS day.

I developed a training program that has sold successfully for a dozen years. Keeping it working for Macs has been a headache. I get it working then something changes. The most current version has worked almost all of the time until Sierra-10-12. Now I get emails from Mac users that the player opens but from what they are saying it can't load the other swf's. I cannot imagine what on earth has happened unless either file pathways have been been changed or the OS is not recognizing that the standalone Flash player app is where it is.

Rather than tearing my hair out over it and try to figure out what the problem is which more than likely is an Apple coding error, I have provided an html file which will get it to work in a browser that has the Flash player installed. Once Apple decides that Mac users can no longer have a Flash player installed in their browser then I simply will not offer it for Macs. I have just updated my sales information to state that this

I personally believe that Apple only wants people to run software on the machine that they paid too much money for if they buy that software or app from the Apple store. If a third party person can provide software and not go through the Apple store then that software will not work. It used to be that I could use Flash to author apps for i devices. No more. Apple will not accept or approve anything that was developed in the Flash authoring environment even if you pay them their required developer fee.

Thanks for listening.

 

[infantrytrophy]

I have been reading this thread with interest. I do not use a Mac or any Apple product. I have a refurbished Macbook that I use to test files on. If you think the pdf issue is a problem you ought to try developing in Flash.I have been a Flash developer for close to 20 years. I love Flash. I think it is the most elegant authoring software out there. I have developed over 500 teaching animations in Flash. It is like playing music when I work with it. I miss it terribly since it is so vilified with Apple and some of the browsers working so hard to kill it I lost the enthusiasm to develop with it. HTML 5 is like taking a huge, gigantic step backwards. You can produce only things that would have been mediocre in DOS day.

I developed a training program that has sold successfully for a dozen years. Keeping it working for Macs has been a headache. I get it working then something changes. The most current version has worked almost all of the time until Sierra-10-12. Now I get emails from Mac users that the player opens but from what they are saying it can't load the other swf's. I cannot imagine what on earth has happened unless either file pathways have been been changed or the OS is not recognizing that the standalone Flash player app is where it is.

Rather than tearing my hair out over it and try to figure out what the problem is which more than likely is an Apple coding error, I have provided an html file which will get it to work in a browser that has the Flash player installed. Once Apple decides that Mac users can no longer have a Flash player installed in their browser then I simply will not offer it for Macs. I have just updated my sales information to state that this

I personally believe that Apple only wants people to run software on the machine that they paid too much money for if they buy that software or app from the Apple store. If a third party person can provide software and not go through the Apple store then that software will not work. It used to be that I could use Flash to author apps for i devices. No more. Apple will not accept or approve anything that was developed in the Flash authoring environment even if you pay them their required developer fee.

Thanks for listening.

… and thanks for sharing.

I sympathize with your plight as one of the remaining Flash developers. While there may be a modicum of justification for ire directed at Apple, note that other organizations rejected, or at least severely restricted, the Flash platform for well-justified security and resource considerations. Apple is not the villain, or at least not the only villain. Flash has always been fatally flawed.

I tolerated Flash’s nuisances and never-ending update requests until a couple of years ago when a bogus adobe updater installed malware on our family’s various computers. We tried to be sufficiently vigilant to avoid this, but it was not enough. Flash is now banned for good in our home. Good riddance, in my view. I don’t miss Flash at all. Our web browsers work faster and more smoothly now that they are not bogged down with Flash animations.

Apple (and others, including Google, Facebook, etc.) may well have self-serving business reasons for rejecting Flash. But it is equally true that security nightmares and resource-hogging behavior more than justify the demise of Flash.

Here is a link to a succinct summary of the Flash problem:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/tech-world-prepares-obituary-for-adobe-flash-1437341315

 

[bingeciren]

All I know is, whenever something with Flash is running on the computer, the fan goes nuts and the machine runs like a hair dryer. Flash eats resources like a canibal. I agree with Steve regarding Flash.

 

[sciencegal]

Flash ads are the problem not Flash. I wish there were something out there better to replace it but there isn't. When Macromedia had Flash it was great. Adobe destroyed it. I do not blame Apple entirely, Google Chrome is unusable anymore. If I go to a page with a Flash ad Chrome freezes the browser and lately has twice frozen the entire computer. Flash is not doing that Chrome is. Browsers allow malware through also.


... and the issue to me is that if someone buys a machine and they want to put an application on that machine then they should be able to do so. Instead the maker of the machine and the operating software says they can't.