Find Not Working in Preview

I couldn't find a "Preview" area, so I'll try this here. I don't know why, but most times I am using Preview to view a PDF document, such as a software manual, the Find function doesn't work correctly. I type in a single word that has numerous visable recurrences, but Preview can't find them. Sometimes, it partially works. I have a MainStage manual I downloaded that only finds instances of the word in the figures of the document, but not in the main text. I keep looking for some selection or preference that is set up wrong, but I have no idea why it works this way. I've had other search problems working with PDF documents on Windows platforms, so maybe it's all related to PDF, and not to Preview. But without a search function, I'd just as well have a paper copy! Any ideas? THANKS!

This is a very frustrating problem, and it's sad to see it has persisted so long.
My experience was very similar: downloaded a pdf; was able to highlight and copy and paste text, no problem; but when i tried to search, this is what i saw [screenshot]:
Maddening!
But, after finding and reading this thread, i retraced my steps, and found that it was indeed related to a Mac OS X "Save as" glitch — sort of.
Whenever i download a document i intend to work on directly, adding annotations and highlights, etc., i sometimes choose to work on a copy, leaving another untouched (i'm an obsessive academic); sure enough: Preview was not finding text in the *copy* i had made (by clicking "duplicate" in the contextual menu after selecting the pdf in Finder). The original document was perfectly fine; only the duplicate copy is corrupted.
What's interesting though is that when i tried to highlight text in the original, Preview (of course) told me it is "locked" and asked if i wanted to unlock it or work on a copy; i clicked copy, and voila: the duplicate version created by Preview actually seems to work fine.
So long story short: i guess i can't trust Finder to duplicate pdf documents for me; from now on i'll do it through Preview.
BTW: Being paranoid, i checked and double-checked. So far so good. (Which is to say: not great, really, because we shouldn't be having this problem in the first place... sigh.) Anyway, good luck, i hope maybe this helps someone.

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Some PDFs not working in Preview. Mac created PDFS work but windows created PDFS dont

Some PDFs not working in Preview. I installed adobe reader and then deleted it because the software was aweful and PDFs have been haveing issues ever since. I can open up PDFs created on my Mac in preview just fine...
But when I try and open a PDF created on a windows computer it says:
"Please wait...
If this message is not eventually replaced by the proper contents of the document, your PDF viewer may not be able to display this type of document.
You can upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Reader for Windows®, Mac, or Linux® by visiting http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
For more assistance with Adobe Reader visit http://www.adobe.com/support/products/ acrreader.html.
Windows is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Mac is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. "
I am not sure why where the PDF was created would make a difference but couldnt help but notice that was the difference between the PDF files that work and the ones that give that message. I can view the PDFs on a windows computer just fine and never had issues untill adobe, it seems to have messed up PDFs on my Mac and I am so frustrated with them. I have searched my computer for any remaining adobe files, deleted them and restarted my computer but I am still getting this message.

Uninstall Adobe Reader's plug-in.
Remove the following two files from /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/:
AdobePDFViewer.plugin
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin
Open Safari Preferences > Extensions. Do you see AdobePDFViewer? If yes. disable.
Log out/in and test.
Another option is to download and install this plugin. Schubert|it PDF Browser Plugin . PDF Browser Plugin 2 is free for not-for-profit activities if used at home or at educational institutions.
http://www.schubert-it.com/pluginpdf/

Finder not working, when click the infinity sigh comes, can't open any file

finder not working, when click the infinity sigh comes, can't open any file?

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I'm experiencing the same thing but with all kinds of files that have shown a preview in snow leopard: pictures, PDF-documents, music (with album art). It seems that previews are not created automatically whenever I change the name of a file or edit it in any other way, the preview shows up instantly. Rebooting works, too.
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Hi
I am working on captivate 8 responsive project. I have created button using shape.
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Finder not working... I'm getting annoyed at Apple.

Hi. Long time Apple Fan, 5 years now, heavy computer user for 15 years.
I recently installed a Brother Fax/Scan/Copy machine on my iMac with Leopard. The software that comes with it gives me the option to scan into PDF in one small step. Easy. I love it. However, the software is weak in that it doesn't clearly show where the pdf's are by default saved. I've solved that problem for the Black and White scans, but for the color scans, because I do them so rarely, I've not taken the time to figure it out.
So last night, I was scanning my Passport because I'm getting a new one soon. In the process, every time a scan completes, it opens the file in preview with the .pdf file and the default file-naming convention of CCI00001.pdf, CCI00002.pdf, and so on sequentially. Well, thinking I could easily find the files later, I just closed the Preview window thinking I'd open them later.
Well, the only way I can find these files is under the 'File>Open Recent' in Preview. Problem is, I've opened a few files with Preview since these scans, so I think, I'll just go to finder and type in the file name. Well, Finder can't find them. The ONLY way I can get to the files is through 'Open Recent' in Preview. However, some of them are no longer recent, so 'poof' they've disappeared. So I thought, well, let me click 'save as' in Preview and that would open the folder they are in. Well, it did, but it opened it in a finder window that is not the usual finder window. I.e., I can't navigate away from the folder that the 'Save as' function in Preview opens. Well, I can, but it doesn't clearly show me where that folder is that it default opened. I use the drop down arrow to open the 'advanced' finder window or whatever, but there is no 'root structure' (for lack of a better comparison that you can find in Windows) the name of the folder happens to coincide with my 'user' folder, but it doesn't have the little 'user' icon that you normally see next to your user folder in finder. It's just a normal blue folder that happens to have the same name as my user folder. So, I thought, why don't I create a new folder with a peculiar name that I can search for in finder- I called it 'Baffle Me' ... keep in mind, this is within Preview, File>Save As...> not changing the directory that it defaults to even though it's the name of my home folder or whatever, and then adding a folder called 'Baffle Me'... I saved in that folder. Logic would conclude that I could do a search within Finder now for a folder called 'Baffle Me' and wala- I'd find the folder where all my .PDF scans are. Nada. I thought, well maybe OSX needs to take time to scan it again- I'll come back tomorrow. So I did. Nada. I'm at a lost here. How can a file be on my computer and Finder not find it??
Can someone tell me how to find these scans? Did they get thrown out because I just closed the Preview window instead of saving them and they were in some sort of 'temp' directory? That doesn't make sense though, because I can still go back in 'File>Open Recent...> in Preview and find them. I'm at a loss here, and I'm really getting annoyed.
Ideas? Thanks in advance for your responses.
Hal

{quote}Well, the only way I can find these files is under the 'File>Open Recent' in Preview.{quote}
Command click on the filename on the preview window and it will give you the path to the file... That is also a live path, so if you click on the folder that the file is in you will be taken to where the file is. Or click on the Sidebar button on the preview window and click on the gear/wheel on the bottom and select sort by path. It will then show the path under the file name...
You should also play with spotlight to see if you can figure out why it was not working for you. I was able to find pdf's by name as well as text within them... It should've found them really easy with the file names.
{quote} I use the drop down arrow to open the 'advanced' finder window or whatever, but there is no 'root structure' (for lack of a better comparison that you can find in Windows){quote}
Click on the hard drive icon in the sidebar and you see the 'root structure'. The mac layout is no different than Windows...
Message was edited by: garbageman

'show icon preview' not working, Icon preview no longer visible

I have lots of folders full of jpg files. The preview icon do longer appears and all i get is the genetic icon. This happened randomly yesterday and I don't know how to fix it. I have the 'Show Icon Preview' enabled yet I only get the generic icon. Any ideas why? (OS X 10.5.8). I have tried a restart, permissions fix, and reindexed my hard drive with spotlight. No luck. Please help!
Simply: I don't know how to get the preview back even after selecting the "show icon preview" box on the options. HELP!

There probably are some hidden probable causes for this behavior;
while not knowing if you perform any general maintenance in a
preventative way for your OS X system, some of the suggestions
I could provide here may mean little or nothing to some users, or
to others, who have done them for years as a matter of course, to
suggest those could be the same as an insult; or a laughing matter.
You could try rather basic things, a few steps above 'repair disk
permissions' in Disk Utility. That's been around since OS 10.1.5.
And it has a place among other steps one can do to help out.
Sometimes, you can start up into SafeBoot mode; then choose to
run Disk Utility, and repair disk permissions. When done, quit D.U.
and restart the computer normally. - Other repairs to the system may
be performed by booting up from the OS X installer and run Disk
Utility from the menu drop-down options in the main Installer window.
You can repair disk, verify disk (SMART verify), repair disk permissions
and verify disk permissions. Plus other aspects of Disk utility that are
tools to set up partitions and other things beyond a basic simple fix.
SafeBoot mode, basic:
+Hold the Shift key down on start-up, keep holding it until you get a login+
+screen, enter admin password, then when desktop appears, you can+
+use GO in menu bar to find Utilities folder, and run Disk Utility's repair+
+disk permissions. When done, quit the Utility and restart.+
There probably may be some .plist file controlling the view of image icons
and since I haven't followed that issue (experienced it in the past, forgot
what I did to fix it) I am not sure what preference file to suggest trashing.
But you can be very selective, when knowledgeable, and do that. Then,
later on, when you restart the computer the default setting would return.
You could set that to whatever (if not the default) & that may fix the matter.
{One preference file location that probably would contain your user account's
.plists would be in the Macintosh HD> User folder> Library> Preferences>
...Now, the correct one among these becomes important. There is a desktop
plist, a finder plist, and others. Since each user in a Mac with their own setup
account can change these, yours should be in your booted user account.
However, some time has passed since this kind of issue occurred and I didn't
need to delete a .plist to resolve it. Yet that may be a short fix.}
These issues usually have a cause; sometimes it may be due to other items
not quite right in the user interface and symptoms of that sometimes show up
in odd places and they may not be directly related. Subtle and dismissed, a
few of those quirks are not show stoppers in OS X. A 'safeboot' & disk utility
may resolve some; to find a correct .plist preference file & trash it may, too.
If the computer's hard disk drive is getting full of content you have added, it
may be time to archive image libraries and/or music libraries off the Mac's
internal hard disk drive and then thin out content on the computer. That can
help a computer run better. Damage to data on the computer drive may be
a result (or outright is) of over-filling the hard disk drive. Overwriting content
is sometimes an issue; it could be subtle, too, for awhile. Checked into it?
For some preventative maintenance chores, I have and use OnyX which is
a free running utility tool (which I refer to as a utility interface tool) that pulls
the strings in OS X that some users would not think of the Terminal utility
ways of making them work; this gives you a GUI format, an application to
run various sets of items rather easily. If done without concern, these tools
can do bad things (same as booted Disk Utility, drastic tools are onboard.)
OnyX is a free-running downloadable app from Titanium Software; and since
I only use it maybe once every several months (or sooner if bored or if active
in using one computer more than usual) & have it run in Automation selection
having chosen all the check-box choices, so it will do those. I also have OnyX
set in its preferences, to restart the computer after it is done running those.
This may do more than you need in this selection of Automation. I have never
had any issues with this; but some preference choices system-wide may need
to be set back to your choice, as it can be also set to wipe caches or other old
logs and misc stuff. A few settings won't make much different to default from.
Usually, I prefer not to shut off or restart my computer until such time as when
Activity Monitor shows some issue with virtual memory and swap files or space
on the hard drive being excessively allocated as Virtual Memory. At times, a
restart may be required. My Mac can run a few months without restart, but it is
left to sleep or I will put it to sleep. Even so, some basic background OS X items
may not automatically run as they should. You can force the maintenance cycles.
If the 'show icon preview' does not work even after performing catch-up maintenace
and including OnyX, SafeBoot, and others; and if you have at least 30% of the total
hard disk drive capacity open or free from use, then you may have to consider a few
other ideas. (Removing the plist file may be the only thing you'd need do.) Another
idea in a few cases of more severe odd behavior, and if you updated your Leopard
10.5 to your current/last level through use of the Delta or small update file, would be
to get the larger Combo (last version) and after repairing disk permissions, install it
over the similar system in your computer. 10.5.8 over 10.5.8. Then restart and go in
and repair disk permissions again. Perhaps later on, safeboot and do them.
That much effort is seldom needed. Preventative maintenance and care to not over-
fill the hard disk drive, helps to almost never see such a problem in your Mac OS X.
{In a few cases, people who have upgraded from an earlier OS X version (Tiger-to-
Leopard, for example) and had a problem, may still have a similar problem later. So
it is best to fix issues and not hope to upgrade over them. Unless it is a totally new
bare-bones secure zero-overwritten drive, correct partition map, reformat, new install.
Then, there should be no doubt if there was an odd problem in the software, only.}
Hopefully some of this late night rambling may be of some help.
+Answering a question in these forums can be like replying to a+
+statement thus, "why won't my car go?" And an answer starts+
+out by asking dozens of questions about the car itself and the+
+status of the car, if it has fuel, tires, if it's been in a flood, or if+
+there is an engine, fuel, battery... At least I know yours runs!+
Good luck & happy computing!

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Finder not working after installing Leopard!!!

Hi everyone.
I'm getting a strange Finder behavior on my Intel iMac (not the newest version) after installing Leopard. The thing is, after instalation, when I start the computer, the top bar on the screen starts blinking, and there's no way to open a Finder window. And it stays like that forever! I tried to open Finder from the Dock, but the blue dot of the active programs blinks 3 or 4 times and then disapears. Plus, the only way to access the Apple logo on the corner to switch the computer off or restart it, is by opening one other program from the dock (in this case I have Safari running), because this way the top bar stops blinking.
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This is really weird and annoying!
Anyone had this problem? Please, help me.
P.S.: Yes, I've tryed a second install of Leopard. Same thing!

anamorphis wrote:
Hi everyone.
I'm getting a strange Finder behavior on my Intel iMac (not the newest version) after installing Leopard. The thing is, after instalation, when I start the computer, the top bar on the screen starts blinking, and there's no way to open a Finder window. And it stays like that forever! I tried to open Finder from the Dock, but the blue dot of the active programs blinks 3 or 4 times and then disapears. Plus, the only way to access the Apple logo on the corner to switch the computer off or restart it, is by opening one other program from the dock (in this case I have Safari running), because this way the top bar stops blinking.
So, I thought I should try to update Leopard to 10.5.1, and this could solve the problem. But no. It searches for new software updates, tells me that there are new updates, but I cannot see them nor install them!
This is really weird and annoying!
Anyone had this problem? Please, help me.
P.S.: Yes, I've tryed a second install of Leopard. Same thing!
Do NOT install any updates until you resolve the problem, which is unrelated to any updates. Updating a computer that is not working correctly will only make the problems worse, never better.
If this is the second install, was it on an erased HD or did you import your previous programs, etc?
It sounds like you might have some errant 3rd party software running.
Did you run a disk check and file permission verify/repair before installing?
Check your startup program window and remove everything there. Write them down so you can put them back later.

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Flash drives are extremely tempramental for booting. Any other USB devices will slow them down. Also most are not preformatted for Mac booting:
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Find Not Working in Preview

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