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Randy3756
Participant
April 4, 2020
Question

.pdf files hi-jacked

  • April 4, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 507 views

I use a MacBook Pro running Mojave

Paint S hi-jacked my .pdf files... all of my .pdf files in the whole computer. How is this even possible? What do I do to open my .pdf files in preview again. I've tried resaving them, reverting them....

Help!!!

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1 reply

jane-e
Community Expert
jane-eCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 4, 2020

Hi

  • Open the Finder > Right Click a PDF and choose Get Info (or Cmd+I or File menu, etc.)
  • In the Open With section, choose Preview or Acrobat and All Files (not just the current file)

 

This will associate all PDFs with Acrobat or Preview. As much as I love Preview, I will not use it for PDFs, as it does not work. If you don't have Acrobat, then install the Adobe Acrobat Reader and use that to view PDFs.

 

This is part of the Mac Operating System, btw. It is not an Acrobat issue. Sometimes installing an application "takes over" the extensions, which is what Paint Shop did to you.

 

 

~ Jane

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Randy3756Author
Participant
April 4, 2020

Thank you. I did do that, but it still opens as a Paint S file when I try to send a play through email to a theater company, plus it'll only show the top page.

Originally, I tried to open one file to see if it keep the format I wanted (since saving a .pdf from Final Draft to Word justified everything to the left instead of the format it was written in) and now every .pdf I try to open, opens in Paint S.

A 101 page theater play only shows the top page and I can’t get it to do anything else.

R
Randy3756Author
Participant
April 4, 2020

Hi

 

One thing to know is that Adobe does not own PDF. They gave it away to an ISO years ago. If you are not using Adobe Acrobat to make the PDF, then it is not an Adobe issue. In the PDF, go to File > Properties. Which Application does it say made the PDF? It might be a PDF made by Microsoft or by the Mac OS, for example.

 

~ Jane


Thank you again for your patience with me. I have Adobe Reader and use it often, but most theater companies don't. They pretty much all have a reader that read .pdf files. Since we last wrote, I put Paint S in the trash, reopened everything with Adobe, re-saved everything and I now have everything back to where it was before. YAY!!!!

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