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I just tried it, but as you can see for yourself, the "Sharing & Permissions" section of the "Get Info" window for Preview shows you, that you don't have the proper permissions to do so, as that application is used system wide. I couldn't find anything via Google or that MRoogle thing a lot of posters seem to use.

Maybe as the system "forbids" you to rename it, it would be wise to listen to it and not attempt to do it.

But as the night is still young, someone more knowledgable will come along and might show you the direction.
 
I just tried it, but as you can see for yourself, the "Sharing & Permissions" section of the "Get Info" window for Preview shows you, that you don't have the proper permissions to do so, as that application is used system wide. I couldn't find anything via Google or that MRoogle thing a lot of posters seem to use.

Maybe as the system "forbids" you to rename it, it would be wise to listen to it and not attempt to do it.

But as the night is still young, someone more knowledgable will come along and might show you the direction.

Yeah, I was just looking at that, thanks anyways!! I'll just leave it........
 
Get info on the app and try and change the name. If the system doesn't let you change the name, then I'd imagine you can't. What are you going to change it to? My suggestion is: "Picture Viewing Program of Awesome"
 
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Just to give a little more information, if you change the name of Preview, you run the risk of breaking quite a few options related to PDF viewing in Safari and Mail, printing previews, and certainly you'll have potential issues with software updates (best case scenario is you'd probably end up with a second copy of Preview in addition to your renamed one).

jW
 
I can't begin to count the number of people who have messed around with their system "because they just want to", then post here in a panic because their Mac doesn't work properly. There's no good reason to change the name of Preview. Leave it alone.
 
Do it. If anything goes wrong... rename it back to Preview.
 
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I don't really want to change it "just because"

I just downloaded Xee, and I want to name it Preview, but it says the name Preview is already taken, so I need to change the name of Preview.
 
I don't really want to change it "just because"

I just downloaded Xee, and I want to name it Preview, but it says the name Preview is already taken, so I need to change the name of Preview.
I'm assuming you want image files to open with Xee instead of Preview, by default. Renaming apps is not the way to do that. Instead:
  1. Right-click a file of the type you wish Xee to open, such as a .gif file, and select Get Info.
  2. Under "Open with:" select Xee.app
  3. Click "Change All"
  4. Done
Now every time you double-click a .gif file, it opens with Xee instead of Preview. This method works for any file type.
 
Exactly. Xee is great for pictures (I use it myself) but not for, say, PDFs. Replacing one binary with another is not the solution, but changing the default associated applications on a per-filetype basis is the way to go.
 
I'm assuming you want image files to open with Xee instead of Preview, by default. Renaming apps is not the way to do that. Instead:
  1. Right-click a file of the type you wish Xee to open, such as a .gif file, and select Get Info.
  2. Under "Open with:" select Xee.app
  3. Click "Change All"
  4. Done
Now every time you double-click a .gif file, it opens with Xee instead of Preview. This method works for any file type.

No, no, no, no, I know how to do that, and it's already done, been done for days now. I just don't like the name Xee lol
 
So why not rename Xee instead of trying to rename Preview?

Preview is an essential system app, that's why you can't change the name -- because other parts of the system will lose track of it. Xee, on the other hand, isn't. You should be able to rename it to whatever you like.
 
Changing the name requires a little bit of work, but as others have said, it could break things.

1. Copy Preview.app to your Desktop.
2. Move your current Preview.app out of the Applications folder and BACKUP!!!
3. Change the name of ~/Preview.app/Contents/MacOS/Preview to what you want.
4. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/version.plist and change ProjectName to what you want.
5. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/info.plist and change Bundle display name and Executable file to what you want.
6. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings and replace every instance of Preview to the name you want.
7. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localizable.strings and replace every instance of Preview to the name you want.
8. Change Preview.app to the name you want.
9. Copy your new "Whatever".app into the applications folder.
10. Open Terminal and type:
Code:
sudo -s
chown -R root:wheel "/Applications/Whatever.app
chmod -R 755 /Applications/Whatever.app

Note: The menubar will say "Whatever", but the Help menu and About will still say Preview, but it should work for what you want.
Also if you notice any problems just delete your version and copy the backup into the Applications folder.
 
So why not rename Xee instead of trying to rename Preview?

Preview is an essential system app, that's why you can't change the name -- because other parts of the system will lose track of it. Xee, on the other hand, isn't. You should be able to rename it to whatever you like.

I want to rename Xee to Preview, so I need to change previews' name because it's already being used

Changing the name requires a little bit of work, but as others have said, it could break things.

1. Copy Preview.app to your Desktop.
2. Move your current Preview.app out of the Applications folder and BACKUP!!!
3. Change the name of ~/Preview.app/Contents/MacOS/Preview to what you want.
4. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/version.plist and change ProjectName to what you want.
5. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/info.plist and change Bundle display name and Executable file to what you want.
6. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings and replace every instance of Preview to the name you want.
7. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localizable.strings and replace every instance of Preview to the name you want.
8. Change Preview.app to the name you want.
9. Copy your new "Whatever".app into the applications folder.
10. Open Terminal and type:
Code:
sudo -s
chown -R root:wheel "/Applications/Whatever.app
chmod -R 755 /Applications/Whatever.app

Note: The menubar will say "Whatever", but the Help menu and About will still say Preview, but it should work for what you want.
Also if you notice any problems just delete your version and copy the backup into the Applications folder.

Thank you!!!
 
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Not really. Just drop Xee or Preview into a folder so both apps aren't in the same directory. Then call Xee whatever you want.

Tried it......says the name preview is already taken, please choose a different name.

Changing the name requires a little bit of work, but as others have said, it could break things.

1. Copy Preview.app to your Desktop.
2. Move your current Preview.app out of the Applications folder and BACKUP!!!
3. Change the name of ~/Preview.app/Contents/MacOS/Preview to what you want.
4. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/version.plist and change ProjectName to what you want.
5. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/info.plist and change Bundle display name and Executable file to what you want.
6. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings and replace every instance of Preview to the name you want.
7. Open ~/Preview.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localizable.strings and replace every instance of Preview to the name you want.
8. Change Preview.app to the name you want.
9. Copy your new "Whatever".app into the applications folder.
10. Open Terminal and type:
Code:
sudo -s
chown -R root:wheel "/Applications/Whatever.app
chmod -R 755 /Applications/Whatever.app

Note: The menubar will say "Whatever", but the Help menu and About will still say Preview, but it should work for what you want.
Also if you notice any problems just delete your version and copy the backup into the Applications folder.

EDIT: I tried all of this, but it seems to be causing problems, thanks anyways! Maybe there's another way.........
 
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Rename Xee to Prëview or something. I agree with others that renaming Preview to anything else will definitely cause you pain and frustration down the road.
 
No matter what you do, renaming Preview will cause problems. It is a default app and lots of other stuff is tied into it. For instance, I don't use iCal, but trust me, bad things happen if you try to get rid of it.

The method I gave you changed it's name completely, down to everything except the .nib files, which are not editable.

Perhaps change the name of Xee to Previewer? Pretty much the same, but different enough to work.
EDIT: lol looks like Nugget beat me to this idea.
 
No matter what you do, renaming Preview will cause problems. It is a default app and lots of other stuff is tied into it. For instance, I don't use iCal, but trust me, bad things happen if you try to get rid of it.

The method I gave you changed it's name completely, down to everything except the .nib files, which are not editable.

Perhaps change the name of Xee to Previewer? Pretty much the same, but different enough to work.
EDIT: lol looks like Nugget beat me to this idea.

Lol, yea from all of these posts I think I got the idea haha, I thank you all for your ideas though.
 
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