3 Quick Preview App Tips
Most people use Preview App as the go-to app to open up PDF files and Images. There are a few hidden features that you make not know about. Here are three cool things that you can do with Preview App.
Sort the Order of Photos in the Sidebar
When you open up a bunch of pictures in Preview, by default the pictures appear in alphabetical order. If you right click on any of the images, you can change the sort order to be by Name, Path, Date, Size or Kind.
After you change the sort order the text under each of the images will show additional information, such as the size of the photo or the date it was taken.
Sort the Order of the Contact Sheet
Did you know you can create a Contact Sheet in Preview. Simply drag a drop photos or folder on the Preview App. Select all the images in the sidebar, using Command - A, then type in Command - Option - 6 to open the images in the Contact Sheet.
Just the tip above, simply right click on any image and you can change the sorting order.
In the Contact Sheet you can change the orientation of multiple images, simply select the image that needs to be rotated Right or Left, then type in Command - R to adjust the image right or Command - L to adjust the image to the left.
Combine PDF Documents
You can easily combine several PDF documents into one document. This is useful when you may create a bunch of documents in Pages, for example, envelopes in a mail merge.
Simply open up the document to be on the first page. Then type in Command - Option - 2 to open up the Thumbnails sidebar. Now you simply Drag and Drop the PDF files you want to add to the PDF document. So from the Finder (or Desktop), drag the file to the sidebar of the open Preview window.
You don't need to worry about the order because after you complete, you can reorder the thumbnail images in the PDF document.
Once your done Save.
I find this useful when I need to print a bunch of documents at FexEx Office or Staples. I simply combine the printable documents into one and send it off. It makes it simple when there's only one document that you have to deal with.
Lots more to Explore
Apple packed a lot of features in Preview, including a simple Annotate tool, Adding Keywords to Images, Magnification, Bookmark and more.
A good place to learn is the Apple support section:
- Highlight, underline, and strike through text in Preview
- Use the Preview app to view and edit images and PDFs - Apple Support
- Resize or rotate an image in Preview
- Add notes and speech bubbles to a PDF in Preview
- Preview (El Capitan): Preview keyboard shortcuts
If there's any cool tips/tricks you like to do in Preview, please share!