Adding images to existing PDFs in Preview - change in alignment behaviour

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14 points

Adding images to existing PDFs in Preview - change in alignment behaviour

Preview has started behaving differently since upgrading to Ventura. When adding images to an existing PDF in Preview, it used to centre align vertically each image in a new blank page the same size as the rest of the document, so I'd usually have a nice A4 page with my image in the centre. For some reason it is now bottom aligning by default, and I can't see how to change this. (I am currently dragging and dropping the images into the sidebar.)

I often need to quickly put together PDFs from a large number of screenshots of different sizes... when they were centre aligned it looked fine, top would be even better, but bottom is just bizarre to me... the smaller screenshots look particularly ridiculous at the bottom of the page - ideally I need blank space underneath, not above.

It's just frustrating because it used to work fine, centring by default, so I'd love that option back again!

Any help on how to set the alignment to the top or centre?

iMac 21.5″ 4K

Posted on Jan 11, 2023 08:47 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

bugproof Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 16, 2023 06:47 AM in response to MamaK2021

I found a workaround but takes a few more steps... I select all my screenshots on the desktop, right click and create a PDF (which then creates a PDF with pages of all sorts of dimensions) then print as a PDF and it puts them all in the centre of an A4 size document. Slight faff but not too bad. Hope that helps!

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,064 points

Jan 11, 2023 09:02 AM in response to bugproof

As you have admitted to needing to do this frequently, a proper PDF editor would give you full ease and control of additional image placement. Preview is not a PDF editor and there is no assurance by Apple that they won't change something between operating system updates and upgrades that compromise previous Preview behavior.

I suggest a single-purchase of the current Nitro PDF Pro (formerly PDFPen Pro) editor as I know it supports drag and drop of images, and drag placement. A free trial is available. If that proves satisfactory to your workflow, it is in the Mac App Store. I am not compensated in any manner for suggesting this software.

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Answer 3

bugproof Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 11, 2023 09:28 AM in response to VikingOSX

I may look into that, but as Preview used to do exactly what I needed it's worth seeing if someone else has figured it out first. It's an odd default to bottom align, haha.

Thanks though!

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Answer 4

etresoft

Level 9

55,228 points

Jan 16, 2023 07:38 AM in response to MamaK2021

Preview is one of those apps that Apple seems to rewrite every year. The Ventura version is particularly bad.

I encourage anyone experiencing this problem to:

1) Use a 3rd party app. Sorry, but I'm getting more and more frustrated with this kind of poor quality. When I was younger and didn't value my remaining years on earth as much, I would try this next option:

2) File a bug report with Apple via: https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/. Just don't get your hopes up. As I said, Preview is something that Apple rewrites every year. I think they use it to test whatever programmer APIs that had ported over from iOS that year. Plus, Preview is, or at least has been in my experience, very low priority. So if you file feedback today, and Apple decides that they actually do want to fix it, it absolutely will not be fixed until macOS 14 "insert-California-chamber-of-commerce-point-of-interest-here". And even then, it will be literally the last thing fixed the weekend before it gets released. So that would be mid-October. At that time, you will also find out which other efficient workflow features are also broken. As I said, I don't write bug reports anymore. Apple always does its best. Its best is simply often much less than you would have hoped to see.

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Answer 5

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,064 points

Jan 11, 2023 09:56 AM in response to bugproof

Perhaps someone can help, but lost productivity has a price associated with it too. Apple continuously changes things and what is past with Apple applications frequently is not prologue.

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Answer 6

Jan 16, 2023 06:24 AM in response to bugproof

@bugproof did you find a resolution to this? I have been using SmallPDF for months and would love to get back to using my Preview app to drag and drop images for PDFs ...

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Adding images to existing PDFs in Preview - change in alignment behaviour

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