Is anyone else having issues with Preview in Lion? When I open a file, if I go to the menubar and select quit it works properly. However, if I click the red x in the main window it closes the window as it should and Preview continues to run in the dock. The weird part is if I click anywhere else on the desktop with the mouse when preview is in this state then Preview will close out completely and leave the dock. Odd. I don't know if it's closing or crashing. It just closes out completely even though I did nothing to it.
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Weird behavior with Preview in Lion
- Thread starter joebilbo
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I don't have Lion, but I would assume it is supposed to do that. I think Apple is trying to make it more like iOS so when your not using Preview to view something, it goes away. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that might be considered a new feature by Apple.
It's a feature. Auto Quit. If select apps have no windows running and you click on another app, it will auto quit. I know TextEdit dose this and so dose Address Book and Quicktime X.
Hmm... I dunno. Address Book quits out normally when I click the red X button. As does TextEdit. Try clicking on a picture and opening it in Preview. Click on the red X; the window closes and Preview still runs in the dock. Now click anywhere on the desktop (not even an icon, just the desktop). Does Preview close out from the dock? If that's intentional than that's strange. A rather odd choice from Apple imo. I wonder if it has something to do with the new auto-save and versions features? If so I need to find a way to disable them heh.
Just checked. well for me address book just quits on window close as always, but TextEdit, Preview, and Quicktime X all use the auto quit and quit out on application switch including switching to finder by clicking the desktop. The reason for this is because, If you close all app windows, but still want to use the app to say, open a recent file or whatever, you still can. By switching apps with no windows open it shows that you are no longer using the app, so it quits. It's quite useful, as you don't have to close all your windows and then quit, it just quits for you.
Preview always annoyed me when it used to remain in the dock after I have closed it's window. I see no reason why Preview should need to remain open after you have closed it's content. It just takes up dock space.
I assume the reason Preview lingers in the dock until you click somewhere else (on the desktop or another app) is because Apple recognizes that some people may want to close one Preview doc and then launch another from the menu bar or recents list. So they have it remain open until they are certain you don't need it anymore.
If for whatever reason you don't like this behaviour, then I suggest just keeping the Preview icon in your dock at all times.
Because by taking up the RAM space you do not need to launch the application again when you want to open a document. That's why document-based apps and browsers have this behavior, you don't have to wait for its launch when you want to do something with it.
Thanks for clearing it up guys. I'll get used to it I guess. It just seemed rather odd at first. I thought it was a bug and Preview was crashing on me. It's not a big deal breaker or anything; just a minor annoyance. Overall I'm really impressed with Lion though.
Agreed, but I think what Apple has now done is to create a virtual cache for these types of applications. Instead of leaving them in the dock when not being used, they flagged and act as closed but are actually cached by the system so that they open faster the second time. If the memory is needed, they are really closed, but otherwise they just hang around until needed. I *think* this is what they are now doing.