OSX Preview works incorrectly

I have a PDF file, which works for all different readers, but OSX Preview didn't show first 2 pages. This file was generated from PHP with using 2 jpeg images for first 2 pages, and generated some text in third page.


MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.5

Posted on Jul 9, 2025 11:16 PM

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2 replies

Jul 10, 2025 08:34 AM in response to serjik779

Your profile shows you are using macOS Sequoia v15.5. That is the official naming now as Apple stopped referring to the operating system as OS X several years ago.


There is no assurance that Apple's Preview will be compatible with a PDF generated from an unknown PHP PDF library (e.g. FPDF, etc.). No one here can fix Preview.


Here is a test that may rewrite the PDF internals in a more favorable manner that allows Apple's Preview to open and display the entire PDF:


  1. Get Firefox 140.0.4 or later and this assumes that it will be installed on the macOS 15.5.
  2. Open your PHP generated PDF in Firefox.
    1. Does the PDF display as you expect?
  3. Save the PDF from Firefox to your Desktop with a different name (e.g. foo.pdf)
    1. Doing so will flatten any annotations preventing future annotation editing
  4. Open the newly saved PDF in Apple's Preview to determine if it now opens and displays all pages


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OSX Preview works incorrectly

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