Mac Software

View PDFs and images in Preview on Mac

Written by:
John

You can open PDFs and images in Preview, change how documents are shown in the Preview window, and get information about the files.

Open PDFs and images

You can double-click a PDF or image file to open it by default in Preview. You can also open Preview and select the files you want to view.

In the Preview app on your Mac, choose File > Open.

Locate and select the file or files you want to open, then click Open.

Tip: To open a file you’ve worked on recently, choose File > Open Recent.

To open a document in iCloud Drive, click iCloud Drive in the Finder sidebar, then double-click the PDF to open it. See Use iCloud Drive to store documents.

From the Desktop, you can also select a file or files, then choose File > Open With > Preview.

If you open multiple files at the same time, you can set them to open in the same Preview window or open in tabs.

View PDFs or images

When you open a PDF with multiple pages, you can view thumbnails of all the pages in the sidebar.

View PDFs or Images

1. In the Preview app on your Mac, open a PDF or image that you want to view.

2. Do any of the following:

Show thumbnails: Choose View > Thumbnails or View > Contact Sheet.

Show a document’s table of contents (if it has one): Choose View > Table of Contents.

Close the sidebar: Choose View > Hide Sidebar.

Show pages in a continuous scroll: Choose View > Continuous Scroll.

Show one page at a time: Choose View > Single Page.

Show two pages side by side: Choose View > Two Pages.

Scroll pages: Swipe up or down on the trackpad using two fingers.

Go to a specific page: Click a thumbnail, or choose Go > Go to Page.

Go to the previous or next page: Click the Previous button or the Next button in the Preview toolbar. (If you don’t see the buttons, choose View > Customise Toolbar, then add them.) If your Mac has a Force Touch trackpad, you can accelerate through the previous or next pages by pressing and holding the button, then adding pressure; the more firmly you press, the faster you move through the pages.

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