Issues with Printing Selection in Preview

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Level 1

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Issues with Printing Selection in Preview

The question isn't for me but for a coworker using an older iMac model who isn't really tech savvy and doesn't speak any English. We use Preview at work to separate documents and convert the selections to PDFs, how I go about it is select whichever page thumbnails I need in the sidebar and toggle "page selection" in the printing menu and then save as PDF.

She has an older version of preview and when she screen shared with me, I could see that she can select the page thumbnails fine, but when she goes to the print menu to save the selection as PDF, the "Selected pages" option isn't in there. She can select "all" or "page range" but not "Selection" as it isn't there.

We are working remotely so I can't physically check the computer but when I guided her to check if everything was up to date, it seemed fine. Would updating Preview solve the problem? I think her son is more tech savvy than she is and could probably look into it but I want to give him clear instructions. Pointers anyone?

Posted on Dec 18, 2020 1:53 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Old Toad

Level 10

210,615 points

Dec 18, 2020 2:25 PM in response to AlexLR13

It can be done.

1 - in the sidebar select the pages you want.

2 - either use the key combination of ⌘+P or the Edit ➙ Print menu option to start the print process.

3 - in the print window select "Selected pages in sidebar".

4 - at the bottom of the print window select Save as PDF.

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Answer 2

AlexLR13 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 18, 2020 2:58 PM in response to Old Toad

I’ll have to ask her when I get back to work on Monday, I’ll update this thread with more info then but she’s never used Preview before from what I gathered. All I know is that she’s using a 2015 iMac.

She’s elderly and not very computer oriented and since we are working remotely it’s hard for me to help. I’ll be back Monday with updates, thanks for the help so far.

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

210,615 points

Dec 18, 2020 3:35 PM in response to AlexLR13

An alternative workflow would be to select the pages in the sidebar that she doesn't want to save and delete them. Then do a "Save As" and give it another file name.

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Answer 4

AlexLR13 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 18, 2020 2:28 PM in response to Old Toad

That would be the solution but “selected pages in sidebar” just isn’t there. At all. That option doesn’t exist on her imac for some reason. That’s the issue she’s having.

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