If I click on a document, photo or music file, for example, then in the preview pane on the right, I get a load of details about that item. At the bottom of that preview pane are one or more Quick Actions - for example Rotate Left, Trim, Markup and More. When I hover over or click any of these items, NOTHING HAPPENS!
I've checked Finder settings and control-click, but still nothing.
Some suggestions please…
MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 26.1
I had to look at Apple's guide to figure those out, since I never use Column view.
Perform quick actions in the Finder on Mac - Apple Support
I can confirm that those buttons do nothing for me, either. Hovering over one shows the tooltip, but clicking does nothing.
However, if I secondary click on a file and access the Quick Actions that way...
It works as expected:
Seems to be a bug in Tahoe. Bugs can be reported to Apple here:
I had to look at Apple's guide to figure those out, since I never use Column view.
Perform quick actions in the Finder on Mac - Apple Support
I can confirm that those buttons do nothing for me, either. Hovering over one shows the tooltip, but clicking does nothing.
However, if I secondary click on a file and access the Quick Actions that way...
It works as expected:
Seems to be a bug in Tahoe. Bugs can be reported to Apple here:
Say more about 'click on'. If you click on a file in Finder, that file is selected...that's it. Do you mean secondary-click (control-click, two finger click), which brings up a contextual menu?
I tried the Remove Background option, that created a new file with the background removed (well, more than I'd consider background but it tried).
See if the problem is present when you boot in safe mode, which disables 3rd party extensions and performs some system cleanup.
Barney-15E wrote:
if they don’t show up in the contextual menu for that file type, then they really don’t apply and it’s probably a bug that they show up in the preview panel.
It's a bug in Tahoe. On Sequoia, the buttons are there in column view and clicking Rotate Left successfully turns San Francisco sideways.
Do they show up in the contextual menu? If so, do they work from there?
You said, “documents,” but things like “Rotate” only work on images, but may work on some PDFs. Are the “documents” images or PDFs?
I know what buttons you’re talking about. Those quick actions also exist in the contextual menu so I’m wondering if they don’t work because they don’t apply or if they work from the contextual menu but not from the Preview panel.
if they don’t show up in the contextual menu for that file type, then they really don’t apply and it’s probably a bug that they show up in the preview panel.
Perhaps this image explains things a little better…
This is with a PNG image, but other icons appear at the bottom of this Finder preview pane if I select a document, video etc, but they're non-selectable
Thanks Guys, for all your input.
The icons I'm asking about don't show in Icon or List view. They do show in CoverFlow view where, if clicked, they actually do something, however, in Column view, they do nothing. But the same icons can be reached by control clicking the file name in Column view and selecting Quick Actions in the contextual menu. So, I reckon it's a fault with Tahoe that the icons show in Column view but don't actually do anything.
On a similar note…
When I select a music file in Finder and Get Info (CMD + I) I'm not able to alter any of the (Metadata?) information shown - eg, on a music file, under More Info, I want to change either the title or the author, but they're not selectable. On a Windows machine, I can Alt + Enter to bring up the info pane where I can alter the Album, Album Artist, Track № etc. Is there no way to alter these items on a Mac by using Get Info or some other way? And under General (in the Get Info pane), what do the selectable boxes next to Stationery Pad and Locked actually do?
Thanks
When I select a music file in Finder and Get Info (CMD + I) I'm not able to alter any of the (Metadata?) information shown - eg, on a music file, under More Info, I want to change either the title or the author, but they're not selectable.
You pretty much cannot edit any embedded metadata in Finder.
For audio files, you can edit the metadata, but I don’t think it changes the embedded data. Someone else may know for sure. If you wish to edit the embedded data, you must use a third-party tool, like ExifTool.
And under General (in the Get Info pane), what do the selectable boxes next to Stationery Pad and Locked actually do?
Locking a file prevents deleting or editing without authentication.
Stationary is like a Template. You can create a “standard” document and mark it as Stationary. When you double-click on the Stationary, it opens a copy of the template.
For audio files, you can edit the metadata, but I don’t think it changes the embedded data. Someone else may know for sure. If you wish to edit the embedded data, you must use a third-party tool, like ExifTool.
That should have said you can edit the metadata in Music…
OK, that's great - thanks for your input guys.
I'll have a look in the App Store for a suitable tool to edit some metadata.
Cheers 👍
Finder Quick Actions don't do anything
