Preview documents and images are one of the important things we do with a laptop. On the Mac, they have a default app called Apple Preview for these things. Even though this app is one of the basic apps, the features are pretty good and useful. It is beyond one photo and PDF viewing app. In this article, we are going to talk about the Apple Preview app.
When using it for the first time most like other apps you think this is one of the basic apps. Like all other apps, this is launching through the Finder. You can then locate the file you want to preview through the app. This is the default app of the macOS, so whenever you open an image or document, it will open through the Preview app. but you can open a file directly from the finder and avoid the Preview opening process. When the content is loading in the app you can see a toolbar.
Features
The app UI slightly changes depending on the file type you are going to open from the app. As mentioned before when your image or file is ready you can see a toolbar on the top of the screen. with these tools, you can zoom in, zoom out, share, mark up, or fill out a form. When you click the markup button you can see another toolbar and here you can see a set of features relevant to the particular section. Among them there are tools for selection, doodling, inserting, shapes or stick notes, signing, and typing text.
These markup tools are easy to handle. With them, you can change the color or size of a text box and select your favorite fonts from a set of fonts. When typing there is an auto filter feature too. It helps you to improve your typing speed.
With all these features it works as one of the fine viewers for PDFs and Documents. But there are some drawbacks too. One is the lack of advanced editing tools. Adding new elements to an existing one is also a limitation here. You can’t edit the text inside of a PDF file and the photo editing features are also limited. You can use some good image editors in that case.
As an Editor
While these limitations it still gives some editing features. It works as a simple editor with features to delete unwanted pages, reorder them, change their orientation, and customize them. You can copy one page from a page and copy it to a new document. Or instead of that you can open two documents side by side and drag one page to the other document. With this, you can create a PDF from the content you want from other documents. This app gives good protection to all your documents. When you want to save a file click on the Permissions button and it will give you options for protection. Choose a method you want to add. You can choose a Password, and with password protection, readers still can make some changes. Such as inserting pages filling fields, or printing documents.
Creating Signature
If you doing any online signature before you know they offer various options for the signature process. This app also allows you to do online signatures. In here there are options. One is using the trackpad. But if you don’t have one you can’t do this. If you have one this is the best option. The second method is using the camera. Hold a signed paper in front of your webcam and it will extract it from the paper. If you use a blank sheet of paper then the process will be smooth. With it, you can get a transparent signature.
The third one is, using the iPhone. First, connect your iPhone to the Preview app. then sign on your iPhone. If you want more space to sign you have to rotate your device every time you are going to sign. When you add your signature to the app, name it as you want. with that, you can use more than one signature. Then you can add it resize it or move it.
Also, with the Preview you can send your documents to others and track their process with the document. With this, you can do your form-filling and signature processes without giving any money to other online services.
When editing you can add notes on documents and you can access the annotation editing tool via the MenuBar or via the icon. When the annotation toolbar opens you can get new features with these tools. You can draw directly on the page, and add shapes, as mentioned before you can add notes, add text boxes, or add signatures.
With all these features it is an excellent software to use for viewing images and documents. Even though the editing features are limited, as a preinstalled app this app gives you a pleasant experience with your documents and images.