Participating Frequently

Question

.ai files not previewing on Mac?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
April 1, 2021
8 replies
12031 views

Why are .ai files not previewing with quick preview function on Mac? I've had this issue confirmed by several other users.

The quick preview app on Mac is essential tool for scrolling though and identifying image files. For it to no longer work with AI files is disastrous!

Help please!

M

Mel288610476h3u

Participant

I know this is an old thread, but keeping you busy? When OP writes "open in preview" they mean they need to open the file in the Preview app - 100% not efficient for browsing and previewing .ai files.
Indesign even shows a preview when quick viewing by space bar. I still can't see a preview of Illustrator files, if anyone has a solution please, I'd love to know.

D

Dodfaefife

Participating Frequently

hi. Sorry if i wasnt clear. I meant quick view not the preview app.

Yes. this is very anoying considering the seemilly random nature of it. Cheers

A

alyk10845209

Participating Frequently

I'm also having this issue, and it's not a matter of saving the file with PDF compatibility, because I was able to see previews of these files before. I'm not sure if it was an Adobe update or an OS update, but at some point the finder preview capability disappeared with no explanation as to why.

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @alyk10845209,

Could you try using Adobe Bridge (https://adobe.ly/3GEX9uy) to view/manage your creative assets and let me know if it helps?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

A

alyk10845209

Participating Frequently

Why would I do that? There's no earthly reason to open a program to look through a list of files I can see clearly in my Finder.

A

audreyh617

Participating Frequently

So I finally had enough of not being able to preview a bunch of .ai files and thanks to this thread I was able to get .ai files to preview by doing a save as with pdf compatilibity. The maddening thing is, these are .ai files I'm downloading as previews from Adobe Stock - omgeeee, how do they not generate pdf compatible files to download as previews?? I just downloaded like 30 images and now I have to resave all of them so I can scan through them quickly? Or better yet, why do they not download ai/eps previews as pngs rather than .ai files - a bit off topic, I know, but where is a good place to request that?

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Adobe Stock forum may be a good place to discuss this:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/stock/ct-p/ct-stock?page=1&sort=latest_replies&lang=all&tabid=all

o77o

Participating Frequently

The answer is unclear to me. From what I understand, every single time I download an .ai stock file, I have to open it and resave? Like the original poster, I have hundreds, if not thousands of .ai files. I have been ignoring this huge inconvenience because I don't have the time to find the actual answer to help me resolve this ongoing issue. Is there anyone who give me an answer?

Monika Gause

Community Expert

The answer is unclear to me. From what I understand, every single time I download an .ai stock file, I have to open it and resave? Like the original poster, I have hundreds, if not thousands of .ai files. I have been ignoring this huge inconvenience because I don't have the time to find the actual answer to help me resolve this ongoing issue. Is there anyone who give me an answer?

By @o77o

It's simple: there are file size limits, so the stock creators do not include the PDF when saving the file. And since on the Mac the preview is based on the embedded PDF (and has been since version CS2 at least), you will have to create that first by opening and then saving.

D

Dodfaefife

Participating Frequently

It's not simple because your method doesn't fix the problem. I've tried resaving my files in all ways with no difference to preview working. Adobe needs to acknowledge this problem, offer a solution or admit we have to live with it randomly not working

Scott Falkner

Community Expert

Try restarting the Finder. Hold Option as you click on the Finder in the Dock and select Relaunch.

D

Dodfaefife

Participating Frequently

Thanks. Didnt change anything. Cheers anyway

L

Laura325339114i38

Participant

Did anyone get to the bottom of this? Still happening for me and agree very frustrating having to open every file to view!

D

Dodfaefife

Participating Frequently

Not solved. I can spacebar/preview .ai files on my late 2023 M2 macbook air with no problem. The same file does not scapcebar-preview on my late 2023 M2 Ultra Mac Studio. Cant be an illustrator setting as they are the same file. So, what's the difference in settings?

D

Dodfaefife

Participating Frequently

And you are sure that you saved them with "PDF compatibility"?

The files are on your local drive?

Yes. to both.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

What Mac OS? It works fine on mine; 10.14.6 Mojave.

But those without PDF compatibility never previewed.

A

Astonishing_joyB82DAuthor

Participating Frequently

I'm using 10.15.7 Catalina.

I had thought maybe OS was the issue but mine is a late 2013 27" iMac so can't upgrade OS further.

I no longer think it's OS issue.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Are the .ai files saved with PDF compatibility?

A

Astonishing_joyB82DAuthor

Participating Frequently

Yes all my files are saved PDF compatable but that shouldn't affect quick preview. I have litterally thousands of .ai files which have accumulated over many years and always previewed without issue, no matter how they were saved.

Seems to me a bug in latest versions of AI. It just started happening a month or so ago and many other designers I know are having the same issue. All that shows in preview is the AI icon.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

The Quick Look preview is based on embedded PDF content on the Mac.

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