Preview in El Capitan

[Anastasius]

Preview is misbehaving. I can call up the annotation tools but the only things that I can select are the three RH ones...selection tools, instant alpha and sketch. Cant draw lines or text etc which is very annoying as I use those features a lot.

Googling seems to come up with issues re PDF files but I'm editing a jpg. Or trying to !

[Dave2002]

I noticed this a week ago while I was away. Currently I'm using HS on an MBP - but I may still have a desktop with El C to test. I barely knew about the features you mention - though here gives some more details - https://9to5mac.com/2014/05/11/how-t...view-for-os-x/

In HS the drop down menu from Tools doesn't show anything about Lasso, or instant alpha. However I did notice some icons which looked as though they might work. One allows me to draw using the trackpad, but there is a message to hit any key to stop. It doesn't work!

I'm not sure how useful this would be for me - as I can probably do most things I want using other tools, but if you have nothing else then it's a shame as Preview is built-in and essentially free.

What do you use the tools for? I can perhaps try on one of my other machines, or even run from a hard drive which has a copy of El C to test - though I'm rather busy right now. Can't you use a tool like Open Office instead? It'll be different, but probably not impossible to learn how to do things.

I was intrigued at drawing the shapes, but I couldn't find any way to rotate those. The facilities seem slightly limited. Affinity Photo and/or Affinity Designer might be worth looking at - they are modestly priced - and shapes can be rotated easily. Also, can you do any of the things you want within Pages? They should work - shouldn't they?

[Anastasius]

I noticed this a week ago while I was away. Currently I'm using HS on an MBP - but I may still have a desktop with El C to test. I barely knew about the features you mention - though here gives some more details - https://9to5mac.com/2014/05/11/how-t...view-for-os-x/

In HS the drop down menu from Tools doesn't show anything about Lasso, or instant alpha. However I did notice some icons which looked as though they might work. One allows me to draw using the trackpad, but there is a message to hit any key to stop. It doesn't work!

I'm not sure how useful this would be for me - as I can probably do most things I want using other tools, but if you have nothing else then it's a shame as Preview is built-in and essentially free.

What do you use the tools for? I can perhaps try on one of my other machines, or even run from a hard drive which has a copy of El C to test - though I'm rather busy right now. Can't you use a tool like Open Office instead? It'll be different, but probably not impossible to learn how to do things.

I was intrigued at drawing the shapes, but I couldn't find any way to rotate those. The facilities seem slightly limited. Affinity Photo and/or Affinity Designer might be worth looking at - they are modestly priced - and shapes can be rotated easily. Also, can you do any of the things you want within Pages? They should work - shouldn't they?

I use the annotations in PV a lot especially when marking up images etc when posting on some forums. I have since reloaded my OS (El C) and, on the face of it, PV still didn't work. But then I discovered that Apple have made the operation less intuitive and that it does work but you have to select the Sketch icon and then what type of line you want to draw. Why software designers have to keep fiddling about with stuff I know not why -especially when the original version 'just works'. Maybe they feel that they have to justify their existence?

[Dave2002]

I do indeed still have El C on one machine. I think to get the tools you want you have to use View -> Show Markup Toolbar (or shift command A). I haven't checked that they all work. I haven't figured out Instant Alpha yet, but some of the other tools do seem to work from the markup toolbar. The drop down menu from Tools at the top of screen doesn't show all the possible tools.

Does that help? Maybe you found this already.

[Anastasius]

I do indeed still have El C on one machine. I think to get the tools you want you have to use View -> Show Markup Toolbar (or shift command A). I haven't checked that they all work. I haven't figured out Instant Alpha yet, but some of the other tools do seem to work from the markup toolbar. The drop down menu from Tools at the top of screen doesn't show all the possible tools.

Does that help? Maybe you found this already.

I'm all sorted, thanks.