Preview Bugs of sequoia 15.4.1

As done many times before, I use Preview to read PDF files. After the last update to Sequoia 15.4.1, in some PDF files, pages appear completely blank or with incomplete texts. As a workaround, I had to switch to Foxit-PDF Reader, which had no problems to show the PDF files completely correct. Do you have a solution? Many thanks, Ernst.

iMac 27″, macOS 15.4

Posted on Apr 18, 2025 1:41 PM

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6 replies

Apr 18, 2025 2:31 PM in response to ernestojuan

As mentioned, a bug report since no Apple employees participate here, just fellow users. We certainly cannot fix Preview or any other operating system code.


I have about 1000 PDFs on my M4 Mac Mini Pro w/Sequoia v15.4.1 and I have randomly opened about 50 which were created as recently as on this version of the operating system and as far back as a PDF created on AT&T's Plan 9 operating system. All open and display normally in Preview for me.


Apple's Preview is not omnivorous though, and some PDF-generating software creates marginal PDFs that cause Preview to display them incorrectly or not at all. Apple is not in a position to overhaul Preview or the underlying Quartz/PDFKit frameworks with newer PDF frameworks to make it competitive with Foxit or Adobe Acrobat Reader capabilities.

Apr 18, 2025 2:05 PM in response to ernestojuan

ernestojuan wrote:

As done many times before, I use Preview to read PDF files. After the last update to Sequoia 15.4.1, in some PDF files, pages appear completely blank or with incomplete texts. As a workaround, I had to switch to Foxit-PDF Reader, which had no problems to show the PDF files completely correct. Do you have a solution? Many thanks, Ernst.


To be proactive you can file a bug report / submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple


Apr 23, 2025 10:23 AM in response to NicolasMa

Thanks to all who responded so far.

Certain (old and new) PDF files can not be processed correctly with Preview, Finder Quick Look, and PDFScanner

The issue appears to apply to certain PDF files only. Affected are the applications Preview, Quick Look of the Finder, and PDFScanner (got from the App Store). On the other hand, the PDF files are correctly shown when opened with Foxit PDF Reader and with Adobe Acrobat Reader. So it is not a specific Preview issue, but the error has to be found in a software segment of Sequoia 15.4.1 that is used by Preview, Finder, and PDF Scanner. 

I submitted this text to Apple Product Feed Back. Hopefully they are keen enough to attend and solve the issue.

Regards to all, Ernst

Apr 28, 2025 7:25 AM in response to ernestojuan

After 'upgrade' to 15.4.1 (24E263), space bar no longer displays PDFs correctly. What I could preview or Quick View yesterday I can not do so today. Space to view was an utter joy, most used feature frankly. It's a massive waste of time to have to open fully in acrobat just to flip through some PDFs. Apple dev team, please sort this out! Just to add, mostly created using the Print to PDF.

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Preview Bugs of sequoia 15.4.1

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