The other day, I was looking for new tips and tricks for Mac OS that my readers can use. I was excited when I ran into a few articles as to the different things you can do with Mac OS Preview. Preview seems to only be used to view pictures or PDF files. I am one of them. I use Preview more than other programs on my Mac because it loads fast. So, I am going to share the information I found with you. I have included videos of how to do a few of the functions, but you may want to view the video full screen to have a better view of the functions.
Did you know that you could resize photos, adjust a photos color settings, make PDF annotations, and more? Well, I knew about resizing photos for a few weeks but I didn’t know what else you could do with Preview.
ANNOTATE IMAGES
Go to View>Customize Toolbar in the menu bar and you will see a number of buttons that can be added to the toolbar. Clicking on the Annotate button and dragging it to the Preview toolbar will enable the feature for images (along with PDFs) to be annotated.
MERGE AND REARRANGE PDFs
You can merge and rearrange pages in PDFS by doing the following:
To merge two or more PDF files together, just open them in Preview, make sure the sidebar is enabled (View>Sidebar) for both windows and just select the page you want to merge wherever needed in the sidebar of the other’s sidebar. Basically, drag and drop. (See Video Below)
PRINT MULTIPLE IMAGES ON A SINGLE PAGE
Lets say you want to print several images but don’t want to waste paper. This will save paper! I used to use my HP Program to do this task, but I just tried it, and it was quick and easy! First, locate the images you want to print on a single page. Then, you can either drag them all in the sidebar of the page your going to print, or you can use File>Open menu and select the pictures you want to use (⌘A) to select all or just use the Command key and click on the pictures you want to use. You will then see in the sidebar of Preview all of the pictures. You can click File>Print or use (⌘P) to print and select how many pictures you want to print and Preview will squeeze them on a single sheet of paper. (See video below)
REMOVING A BACKGROUND FROM AN IMAGE
Even though it isn’t always perfect the first time, Preview has a decent background removal tool that you can experiment with. What you do is File>Open menu and select the picture you want to remove a background from. Then, click on the Select button in the toolbar and choose either Extract Shape or Instant Alpha. I like the Extract Shape as it seems a little easier for me to use. Extract Shape allows you to draw a path around the image to remove everything around it. Instant Alpha lets you pick certain areas of an image and Preview matches the color values to determine what else to remove. These tools take a bit of getting used to. Just fiddle with it and work with it to get the results you want. You can always (⌘Z) to reverse your mistakes. (See videos below)
GRABBING ICONS FROM APPLICATIONS
When you find yourself needing an icon for an application that you can’t find off the Internet, you can use Preview to grab the icon for you. First, go to Finder and open your Applications folder and select the program you need. Press ⌘C to copy and then open Preview. From the Preview menu bar, select File>New From Clipboard. The entire icon set for the application you chose will open in a variety of sizes and you can save the icon in almost any format.
ADJUSTING IMAGE COLORS
If you just need to adjust the image a little bit, you can do this in Preview also. All you do is click on Tools>Adjust Color and Preview brings up a window with tools you can use to adjust your image. You can adjust things like exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, and much more. If you don’t like something, you can hit Reset at the bottom of the window.
PREVIEW KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
FROM FILE MENU
New From Clipboard (⌘N)
Open (⌘O)
Close (⌘W)
Save (⌘S)
Print (⌘P)
FROM EDIT MENU
Undo (⌘Z)
Copy (⌘C)
Paste (⌘V)
Select All (⌘A)
Special Characters (⌥⌘T)
FROM VIEW MENU
Sidebar (Shift⌘D)
Automatically Resize (Shift⌘R)
Actual Size (⌘O)
Zoom In (⌘+)
Zoom Out (⌘-)
Hide Toolbar (⌘B)
Slideshow (ñ⌘F)
FROM GO MENU
Next (⌘RightArrow)
Previous (⌘LeftArrow)
FROM TOOLS MENU
Inspector (⌘I)
Show Colors (Shift⌘C)
Show Fonts (⌘T)
Adjust Color (⌥⌘C)
Move Tool (⌘1)
Select Tool (⌘3)
Rotate Left (⌘L)
Rotate Right (⌘R)
FROM BOOKMARKS MENU
Add Bookmark (⌘D)
I hope that these little known functions help those who just want to make minor adjustments to images or combine PDF files. I use these options more often now since I have found them. If anybody has any other Preview tricks that aren’t listed, feel free to leave a comment and share the wealth with our fellow readers.
