I am having problems after updating to el Capitan. When I try to use my preview app. I get the spinning ball and have to force quit the application. This is not the only part that is acting weird. I wish I had never updated but I am stuck now. Any suggestions. I am not very technical so any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Preview in el Capitan
- Thread starter ABEJJMOOT
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It's likely a corrupt preferences file. In Finder open Go menu, Go to Folder and paste: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preview.LSSharedFileList.plist
Move the .plist file to desktop and restart Mac. Does the problem happen again?
As for being stuck in El Capitan that isn't exactly true if you have a previous backup, you can find instructions for returning to previous OS X version here: http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/delete-el-capitan-go-back-to-yosemite-3581872/
While those instructions are for Yosemite same principle applies to previous versions.
Move the .plist file to desktop and restart Mac. Does the problem happen again?
As for being stuck in El Capitan that isn't exactly true if you have a previous backup, you can find instructions for returning to previous OS X version here: http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/delete-el-capitan-go-back-to-yosemite-3581872/
While those instructions are for Yosemite same principle applies to previous versions.
Thank you so much for your help. I have no back up. I never knew how to do a back up. I am an older person with little experience. I will try moving the pref. file and hope that helps. The only things that are on my computer that I would not want to lose are photos. Couldn't I just save those and then try to go back to Mavericks?
Yes its possible, copy photos to other disk such as memory stick or external hard drive. Then you can use the instructions in the article I linked and return to Mavericks.
Do keep in mind that it will take several hours and you must make sure to copy photos and any other data you want to preserve before you return to Mavericks...
Do keep in mind that it will take several hours and you must make sure to copy photos and any other data you want to preserve before you return to Mavericks...
Thanks so much for your help. I am holding off for a bit hoping that I might grow to like el Capitan. The suggestion for the Preview application worked ..........yippee ! There are so many things that are different to me with the version.
Glad to hear it! 
In the future I recommend waiting several updates before upgrading, I will never update my Macs until .3 or 4 update is released... And I will always make a bootable backup incase of problems (You can use Disk Utility to create one to external hard drive).
In the future I recommend waiting several updates before upgrading, I will never update my Macs until .3 or 4 update is released... And I will always make a bootable backup incase of problems (You can use Disk Utility to create one to external hard drive).
If your photos are important to you, make sure you learn how to do a backup before it is too late!
It will work assuming thumb drive is large enough to hold all pictures. If pictures are only important thing in your Mac it will sufficient "bare bones" backup.
If you value your time and pictures I would recommend in addition to thumb drive that you purchase and use hard drive for backups (either Time Machine or Disk Utility) because it makes restoring your Mac back to working state (for instance if your Macs hard drive broke down) much easier and faster compared that you first install OS X, create new user and finally copy your pictures from thumb drive.
If you value your time and pictures I would recommend in addition to thumb drive that you purchase and use hard drive for backups (either Time Machine or Disk Utility) because it makes restoring your Mac back to working state (for instance if your Macs hard drive broke down) much easier and faster compared that you first install OS X, create new user and finally copy your pictures from thumb drive.