Ok... here is the update....
I went into time machine, I searched for specific files relating to Quick Look
and figured out the exact files I had deleted that after deleting caused me
to be unable to download pictures from my iPhone to iPhoto when connecting
to my macbook pro via itunes, unable to download photos from my canon rebel
XTI camera into Adobe Light Room or iPhoto, and with no image previews for
picture icons, they are as follows:
quicklook-satellite-general.sb
quicklook-satellite-legacy.sb
quicklook-satellite-personal.sb
quicklook-satellite.sb
I found them in Time Machine going back to Nov of last year,
I clicked restore, and it booted me out of Time Machine,
the files were not restored, tried this a few times, no dice.
I navigated to Backups.backupdb folder in my external HD
that TM is connected to, and found these files, as well as
the QL framework, there were two, one with UI in the title
the other just Quicklook.framework. I dragged and dropped
them from my external HD Backups.backupdb's folder in TM
into my Library-->Quick Look folder.
I restarted. Nothing same blank icons with the words jpeg written
instead of small picture icons.
I continued to google and search on forums
Some advised when the icons of images
didn’t show small images as a preview but
just blank with jpg written on them to delete
com.apple.finder.plist from the library preference
plane.
I navigated to this finder window and well,
this file wasn’t even there, so i got it
from TM and put it there, nothing changed,
I deleted it from there, then all my icons
went blank without the jpg written just blank
white boxes, so i put it back now the blank
white boxes went back to what they were after
i deleted the quick look satellite files of just
saying jpg on them but no image preview
So I repaired disk permissions with disk utility since
another user on another forum, who although he didn’t
delete the quicklook files, had the same issue of not
seeing the image preview in the icons of his picture files
but blank boxes with jpg written in them like me
Repaired all the disk permissions, no change nothing
My mac restarted faster, which is cool, but nothing
to address the QL issue.
On this site,
http://www.quicklookplugins.com/how-to-install/
it said:
"to install QuickLook plugins, you should copy the “*.qlgenerator” file into /Library/QuickLook/ or ~/Library/QuickLook/. Note that “*” in the filename will vary based on exactly which QuickLook item you choose to install.
If a QuickLook folder is not present, feel free to create one.
After copying the file into the directory you will need to logout and then back in to your account for it to become active. Alternatively, you can prevent having to logout by running the following command in Terminal:
qlmanage- r
This will force OS X to search /Library/QuickLook and ~/Library/QuickLook for plugins and load them accordingly."
Well this command line doesn't work in Yosemite.
I tried another terminal command
defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableXRayFolders 1
Restarted
No change, still cannot see a preview of my pictures
However, after moving the framework into my QL folder,
now the icon is in the finder window with the little eye,
and if i press spacebar i can see a full size image full screen
but this is useless if you are looking at a finder window
with a hundred pictures and you just want to see which icon
is what picture, without having to open EACH ICON! Apologize
for the caps...i spent hours on this...super frustrated now.
I did all this to avoid reinstalling the OS because I figured
the reinstall would take forever, but now thats a doublestandard
given the amount of time this 'workaround' by dragging and dropping
individual files from TM back into Library folders was taking, and
restarting.
I wanted to find a terminal command to clear the QL cache or something
and activate QL, but i could not find one for Yosemite.
Onward through the mainframe fog...
So I found this page:
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/128825/quicklook-blanks-when-displaying-some-images
Where a user references a workaround on this page
http://www.quicklookplugins.com/2009/10/01/animated-gif/
and answer 15 states this:
"OSX Yosemite and beyond GIF QuickLook secrets manual
I’m leaving this because I had such a hard time figuring out how to fix it.
This plugin works BEAUTIFULLY from OSX 10.5 Leopard to 10.9 Mavericks. If you have these platforms, get it and run the installer. If you have OSX Yosemite (or, predictably, anything beyond it), Apple has added NATIVE Quicklook support for animated GIFs. This plugin BREAKS THIS SUPPORT.
If you had the plugin prior to upgrading to Yosemite, the upgrade will not remove it and your GIF functionality will not work in QuickLook.
To UNINSTALL this plugin, go to the /library folder and open the QuickLook folder. This is NOT the MacOS Harddisk/library or System/library folder. It’s a HIDDEN fo
lder in your own directory. To access it, click the GO menu in the Finder menu (top bar) and press and hold the Option key. Select the “Library” directory that appears there. Inside the Quicklook folder, you’ll see the actual AnimatedGIF_QL.qlgenerator plugin file. DELETE it and you’ll immediately have your native GIF support working again."
Feeling hopeful,
I went to this hidden library folder, and the quick look folder had 0 contents
from this library directory.
I dragged and dropped the quick look frame work files both regular and UI,
and the quicklook satellite files i originally had deleted into this folder
restarted the mac
Nothing no difference, no icons showed a small picture of
the jpgs, so I did all this this to try to avoid spending a lot of
time on it, ironically, but it was down the rabbit hole, so i said
screw this, I’m just going to reinstall the OS as Delta Mac, ThroAu
and others suggested.
I'm excited now, like F everything else, finally, I'll just sit thru
the lengthy install but after that, everything will be back to normal.
I restart, Command-R, select reinstall OS, sign in with my apple ID
and it says 'this application is not available at this time"
I'm so done for now trying to trouble shoot what i thought would
be a simple issue to fix. I apologize for the length of this post,
when I find a solution I want every step logged for others
who I've seen on other forums with the same issue who are
still trying to find a solution to QL not working
Also, if there is some basic thing I am too obtuse to see, please
feel free to point it out..I'm just overly aggravated now with this
issue which should not be this challenging to solve.
Thanks
