How to turn off rounded corners in preview when viewing a PDF

maurizio277 wrote:

Thanks!!!

This seems reassuring.

I do not see any round corners... How is that?

You're welcome. The round corners are only the frame of the Preview app. They do not change a PDF or image file. If the round corners overlap the file you can simply resize the Preview window or change the Zoom level of the file.

It's part of the new UI and cannot be changed by the user.

“We” are users like you and have no power to implement any suggestions. To have Apple consider your feedback, submit it here:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

Sadly no, because if the original PDF has sharp corners (the usual case, as in an A4 page or lettersize), the rounded corners do not display the original document. Nightmare to trim images. Had to switch to Skim. I used to love Preview. It's ugly, true, but I never cared about the looks.

Feel free to use a different PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader or PDFgear, etc.

no, the round corners are not the frame of the Preview app. The round corners are "invented" by the Preview app to make the contents "look fancy" (and to invalidate the "What you see is what you get" concept).

Here you see how the Preview app not even tries to handle round corners correctly in "Two Pages" side by side mode:

Acrobat shows the two pages in side-by-side mode correctly:

[Edited by Moderator]

No, they're not! The rounded edges keep there even if you zoom out so that the picture/document/PDF/etc. is much smaller than the window!

Preview REALY adds rounded corners to everything it displays; f.e. I often use preview to view Print-PDF-Files – all the printing marks at the edges of the (usually) white Paper get "cut round", as well as the paper itself. You can clearly see this as the lightly grey background of the app surrounds the "paper" - with absolutely incceptable round edges!!!

The one and only reason for using PDF is to have consistantly looking files! If a reader doesn't do this its not a reader but a counterfighter ;)

This is a Tahoe UI design choice for how Preview displays the PDF content. The principal takeaway here is that whether the page corners are slightly rounded or not, Preview is displaying the PDF contents that you would see regardless of the corner treatment.

In no manner is Preview compromising the design of the PDF, only your disposition about adapting to a subtle viewing change. I have been working with PDFs since Adobe introduced the spec 32 years ago, and I prioritize my time with the PDF content, not the aesthetics of document corner design.

[Edited by Moderator]

A PDF neither has orthogonal corners nor rounded corners. It is data whose content is contained in various PDFDIsplay boxes (e.g. media, crop, bleed, trim and art) that automatically fit the viewed document, whether A4 or Letter, by example. Apple is simply changing the radius of the viewed page corners as a design choice, but certainly not truncating any PDFDisplay box content.

Sure. Some of us have been viewing Postscript and subsequently PDF content as traditional rectangles in the respective viewing software for a very long time. I do not have an issue with rounded corners because my entire life (and 30 years in the computer industry) has been about adapting to change. As I have said before, my focus is on the PDF content, not on its presentation.

I made some Screenshots ... guys, more than one thing seems to be right...

First - the cutting marks etc. are still there.

But even worse: when exported WITHOUT the marks - see the "funny" rounded edges ... and now think of a sticker sent to a customer to preview and NOT thinking of the newly stupid round-edges-thing...

And thats the screenshot out of InDesign if still not clear what the problem is.

I am still curious about the behavior of Tahoe Preview of Pdf files at corners (just a curiosity, this is not really the main reason I have not updated yet from Sequoia to Tahoe...)

This is a file which, according to Acrobat Pro, is a 3cm x 3cm pdf where a black square boundary is drawn:

https://polimi365-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/10000830_polimi_it/EQfVHQY7nWxEhHtgZKnvsvEBgZ6Se-fbN_Fk-bAuU2CAIg?e=50dB47

The pdf fits tightly with the square, no extra space. Thus a faithful rendering should be what I see with Preview in Sequoia:

(this is just the upper right corner...)

Absolutely no rounded corners.

What do people see with Preview on Tahoe? If people see rounded corners which "cut" the square corners then IMHO Preview is not fully OK, in my opinion. (Yes, I could live with that, of course but, since I create lots of pictures like this, I would find it not really OK...)

Thanks for any answer!

Maurizio

Feel free to send Apple feedback.

Feedback - macOS - Apple

Be sure to let Apple know what you should be able to do from the feedback page already posted.

Well, I'm glad I don't have a problem with my Macs.

Feel free to send Apple feedback.

Feedback - macOS - Apple

I completely agree. Thank you for sharing this concern.

I was shocked by the design changes to PDF display in this Preview application. Apple should never alter the display of content created by others. Reproducing the created content as faithfully as possible is paramount.

I consider this the worst design change in the OS to date. I strongly hope it reverts to the previous state.