Issues with Preview and Desktop after Migrating to Monterey

[theorist9]

I just used Migration Assistant to move from High Sierra (10.13.6) to Monterey (12.4). Normally I'd do a clean install, but redoing all the custom configurations on all my apps takes a couple of days, so this time I decided to see if the easy way would work. Everything appears to be working perfectly, except for two issues. When I create a new Admin account, these issues go away, but the problem is this new Admin account doesn't have any of my custom app configurations. For some apps I can just copy their files from ~/Library/Application Support and ~/Library/Preferences, but others are more complicated. So it would be nice if I could just fix these two glitches rather than doing a clean install.

I performed the migration twice, using two different methods (over USB from external drive, and over Ethernet from the older Mac), and got the identical identical glitches. [In both cases, the Migration was done after an erase-install of Monterey 11.4.]

Here they are:

1) When moving Preview windows on the desktop, I get four different behaviors:
a) Normal behavior: They move with the cursor.
b) The window turns into a thumbnail, and then re-expands when you release the cursor. This is a problem since you can't tell where to place it.
c) The windows turns into a gray bar with the filename. The difference here is that when you release the cursor, it bounces back to its original position, so it doesn't move at all
d) Nothing happens. I left-click on the gray area at the top of the window and drag the cursor (as usual), but the window itself just stays there. It takes a few attempts before it moves.

I tried moving ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preview to the Trash, but it had no effect (and, curiously, the plist file didn't regenerate when I did this). So I just moved it back.

2) When left-clicking on the desktop, the focus should change to Finder. And when right-clicking on the desktop, a small menu should appear. Neither of these things happen. EDIT: ISSUE #2 HAS BEEN FIXED BY FOLLOWING HE SUGGESTION OF @Brian33: DELETED ALL THE ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist FILES, RESTARTED COMPUTER, AND ENTERED killall Finder IN THE TERMINAL.

Here are some of screenshots showing the issues with Preview. The top one shows the window I'm moving (at lower right -- note position of cursor). The middle one shows its transformation into a thumbnail. The bottom one shows its transformation into a gray bar.

 

[Brian33]

I haven't seen/heard of this issue, but it seems like you've done some good troubleshooting! This, I think, is key:

When I create a new Admin account, these issues go away, but the problem is this new Admin account doesn't have any of my custom app configurations.

However,

I tried moving ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preview to the Trash, but it had no effect (and, curiously, the plist file didn't regenerate when I did this). So I just moved it back.

My understanding is that preference settings are cached. I wonder if you might need to at least logout and back in to effect the preference file deletion?

Further, my guess is that the issues you're seeing are more related to Finder than Preview... I'd suggest trashing 'com.apple.finder.plist' and then restarting Finder with 'killall Finder' or logging out and back in. Worth a try, I think.

 

[theorist9]

I haven't seen/heard of this issue, but it seems like you've done some good troubleshooting! This, I think, is key:


However,

My understanding is that preference settings are cached. I wonder if you might need to at least logout and back in to effect the preference file deletion?

Further, my guess is that the issues you're seeing are more related to Finder than Preview... I'd suggest trashing 'com.apple.finder.plist' and then restarting Finder with 'killall Finder' or logging out and back in. Worth a try, I think.

Moved both the Finder and Preview plist files to trash:

Then shut down computer, turned on, and used killall Finder in Terminal.

Some Finder preferences were changed, but not all--e.g. my Finder's dock remained as-is.

Doing this fixed problem #2 (yay—and thanks!), but problem #1 (buggy repositioning of Preview windows) remains.

Curiously, while Finder's plist file auto-restored itself, Preview's did not:

Though Preview itself seems to work fine, I restored the Preview's plist file from trash.

Interestingly, I noticed if I grab the Preview window at the right of the far right of the top gray bar, I don't get the problematic behavior.

I'm curious: Given that the repositioning issue is only seen with Preview, why did you think that was due to Finder?