How to Find and Use the Preview App on Your Mac

As a versatile, built-in application that comes preinstalled on every Mac, Preview is one of the unsung heroes of macOS. This powerful yet often overlooked app allows you to view, edit, and manipulate image and PDF files with ease, without the need to install any additional software. In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll show you four different ways to quickly locate and launch the Preview app on your Mac, as well as dive into some of its most useful features and capabilities.

Why Use the Preview App?

First released as part of Mac OS X 10.0 in 2001, Preview has quietly evolved into a key productivity tool that most Mac users rely on daily, even if they‘re not always aware of it. According to a 2020 survey by the market research firm CreativeStrategies, Preview ranked as the second most frequently used built-in Mac app (after Safari), with 70% of respondents saying they use it regularly.

So what makes Preview so essential? In short, it combines a fast, streamlined interface for viewing files with a shockingly capable set of tools for editing and manipulating them. With Preview, you can:

• View and edit a wide variety of image formats, including JPG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, HEIC, and more
• Read, annotate, sign, and protect PDF files
• Perform basic image editing tasks like resizing, cropping, and color adjustments
• Markup and annotate images and PDFs with text, shapes, and signatures
• Batch process actions on multiple files at once
• Extract individual pages from PDF documents
• Fill out and sign interactive PDF forms

For comparison, here‘s how Preview stacks up against some popular paid PDF and image editing apps in terms of features:

Feature	Preview	Adobe Acrobat	PDFpen	Photoshop	Pixelmator
PDF Viewing	✓	✓	✓
PDF Editing	✓	✓	✓
Image Viewing	✓			✓	✓
Image Editing	✓			✓	✓
OCR Text Recognition		✓	✓
Digital Signatures	✓	✓	✓
Batch Processing	✓	✓	✓		✓
Price	Free	$14.99/mo	$129.99	$20.99/mo	$39.99

As you can see, while Preview may not have every advanced feature of specialized commercial apps, it covers an impressive amount of functionality for a free, built-in tool. For most everyday PDF and image editing needs, it‘s more than capable of getting the job done.

Method 1: Finding Preview in the Applications Folder

The tried and true method for locating any app on your Mac is to browse or search the Applications folder, and Preview is no exception. Here‘s how to find it:

1. Click the Finder icon in your Dock (or press Command+Shift+A) to open a new Finder window
2. In the sidebar on the left, under "Favorites", click on "Applications"
3. Scroll through the list of apps until you find the Preview icon (it looks like a piece of paper with a magnifying glass)
4. Double-click the icon to launch Preview or drag it to the Dock for easier access

While simple, this method lets you see exactly where the Preview app file is located on your hard drive. You can also right-click the icon in the Applications folder to add it to the Dock, rename it, or access other options.

Keyboard shortcut: Command+Shift+A to jump directly to the Applications folder in Finder

Method 2: Using Spotlight Search

The fastest way to find and open Preview (or any app) is often to use the built-in Spotlight search feature. Spotlight indexes all the files on your Mac, including apps, so it can usually locate Preview in a matter of seconds. Here‘s how to use it:

1. Click the magnifying glass icon in the menu bar at the top right of the screen or press Command+Space to open Spotlight
2. Type "preview" into the search box
3. As soon as the Preview app icon appears in the results, press Return to launch it directly, no clicking required

Once you get in the habit of launching apps this way, you‘ll be amazed at how much time it can save you. No more hunting through folders or scrolling through pages of apps – just a few keystrokes will find and open exactly what you need.

Expert tip: You can also type keyboard shortcuts like "pre:1" into Spotlight to jump directly to the first search result for an even faster way to launch Preview.

Method 3: Browsing the Launchpad

If you prefer a more visual way to locate your Mac apps, you can use the Launchpad. Modeled after the home screen on iOS devices, Launchpad displays all your installed apps as a grid of icons that you can browse and rearrange. Finding Preview in Launchpad is easy:

1. Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock or press F4 on your keyboard
2. If you see the Preview icon, click it to open the app
3. If you don‘t spot it right away, type "preview" in the search bar at the top of the Launchpad screen
4. Click on the Preview icon in the search results to launch it

While Launchpad is a quick way to visually find apps, some Mac users prefer to customize it by removing seldom-used apps to make their favorites easier to find. To remove an app from Launchpad, simply click and hold its icon until it starts to jiggle, then click the X button that appears in the corner.

Fun fact: According to Apple, the average Mac user has over 100 apps installed. If your Launchpad is feeling cluttered, taking a few minutes to clean it up can make finding essential apps like Preview much faster.

Method 4: Searching in Finder

If you want to locate the actual Preview application file on your hard drive, you can use the search function in Finder. This is useful if you want to access info about the app or add it to a specific folder or workflow. Here‘s how:

1. Open a new Finder window by clicking the Finder icon in the Dock or using the Command+N shortcut
2. In the search bar in the top right corner, type "preview"
3. Click "Applications" in the sidebar under "Search: This Mac" to filter the results
4. Double-click the Preview icon in the list to launch it or right-click for more options

In addition to launching Preview, searching in Finder lets you quickly access the "Get Info" panel which contains useful data about the app, such as its version number, storage size, and copyright info. You can also drag the icon from the search results to the Dock or to another folder to create a shortcut.

Pro tip: Click the "+" button next to the search bar to save your search criteria as a Smart Folder for one-click access to the Preview file in the future.

Bonus: Setting Preview as the Default PDF Viewer

If you have multiple PDF-capable apps on your Mac, you may sometimes find that PDFs open in an app other than Preview by default. Luckily it‘s easy to change this setting:

1. Find a PDF file in Finder and right-click it
2. Hover over "Open With" and click "Preview"
3. With Preview selected, click "Change All" to set it as the default app for all PDFs

Now whenever you double-click a PDF file, it should automatically open in Preview instead of another app. You can repeat these steps for other file types that Preview can open, such as JPG, PNG, and TIFF.

Diving Deeper into Preview

Once you‘ve located the Preview app using one of the methods above, it‘s worth taking some time to explore its many useful features. Here are a few key capabilities to check out:

Viewing and editing images: Preview can open virtually any image format, allowing you to quickly view photos and graphics. But it also has a full set of tools for editing those images, including cropping, resizing, retouching, and adjusting color and exposure. With the Markup toolbar, you can also add annotations like text, arrows, and shapes to images.

Manipulating PDFs: In addition to reading PDFs, Preview offers a powerful toolset for editing and annotating them. You can rearrange, rotate, and delete pages in a PDF, export individual pages as separate files, and redact sensitive information. Preview can also fill out and sign PDF forms, making it a great tool for handling contracts and other documents.

Batch processing: If you need to apply the same changes to a large group of files, Preview‘s batch processing tools can automate the task. Just select multiple files in Finder, right-click, and choose "Open with Preview". From there you can rotate, resize, or convert the files en masse, saving tons of time compared to editing each one individually.

According to Craig Federighi, Apple‘s Senior VP of Software Engineering, "Preview exemplifies the power and simplicity of great Mac apps… It combines a minimalist interface with deep functionality." By diving into its features and customizing it to fit your needs, Preview can become an indispensable part of your daily workflow.

Learning More About Preview

This guide has covered the basics of finding, launching, and using Preview on your Mac. But there‘s even more to discover in this versatile app. Here are some recommended resources to continue your exploration:

• Apple‘s official Preview User Guide: https://support.apple.com/guide/preview/welcome/mac
• The Power of Preview on Mac, a deep dive by MacWorld: https://www.macworld.com/article/228017/software-graphics/power-of-preview-mac-image-pdf-editor.html
• Preview Tips and Tricks, a collection of lesser-known features: https://blog.macsales.com/43652-preview-tips-and-tricks/
• How to Use macOS Preview, a video tutorial by Tech Talk America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAz0Vig-GpI

By combining the tips in this article with the resources above, you‘ll be well on your way to becoming a Preview power user. Whether you‘re viewing a slideshow of vacation photos, marking up a PDF contract, or batch resizing a folder of images, Preview has the tools to get it done quickly and easily.

Conclusion

From its humble beginnings as a basic image viewer, Preview has grown into one of the most powerful and versatile apps included with macOS. By mastering the different ways to find and launch it, and exploring its rich set of features, you can greatly streamline your workflow and handle a variety of common tasks without ever opening another app.

The next time you need to view, edit or convert an image or PDF file, give Preview a try – with the techniques and resources covered in this guide, you‘ll be amazed at what it can do! Whether you prefer Spotlight, Launchpad, or browsing your Applications folder, you now have the tools to quickly find and make the most of this essential app. Happy Previewing!