Preview keeps launching with the "open file" prompt in macOS Tahoe

Good day everyone,

Ever since the upgrade to Tahoe, Preview keeps launching on its own. It seems to always want to open up a file in the Pictures folder, for some reason. The Dock icon looks like this, with the dot indicating the app is opened even though I never called it up:

I am suspecting that there's an association somewhere between image files and the action of Preview launching, but I can't figure out where to spot it.

Has anyone else encountered this behaviour?

Thank you for your time and support,

Dominique

Mac mini, macOS 26.0

Posted on Oct 17, 2025 12:18 AM

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

73,032 points

Posted on Oct 31, 2025 3:26 AM

Switch to Preview, and open the Window menu. Is there any window there?

Quit Preview, make sure it is not running, and immediately restart your mac.

Does Preview open again?

If so, shut down, and then start your Mac in Safe Mode. Does Preview still start automatically in Safe Mode?

(I fully expect it won't).

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18 replies

2SSophie

Level 1

6 points

Dec 1, 2025 3:41 PM in response to Dominique195

I'm very eager to see an efficient explanation and a useful answer: I've had the exact same issue, since upgrading to Tahoe. Preview keeps launching randomly (no clicking, no action whatsoever). It doesn't open any file, it's just that the software becomes "active" (the icon on the dock has a dot below).

Makes me nuts!

I have to add that for a few weeks, Quicktime showed the same behaviour. It disappeared after the 26.1 update.

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,042 points

Dec 1, 2025 5:15 PM in response to 2SSophie

2SSophie wrote:

I'm very eager to see an efficient explanation and a useful answer:

You'll probably be waiting a long time unless you figure it out on your own. It appears nobody that participates here regularly has ever seen that happen. I certainly haven't.

If it was a reaction to opening a file, it wouldn't open without that file. Something is asking Preview to activate independent of a request to open a file.

2SSophie

Level 1

6 points

Dec 2, 2025 1:39 AM in response to Barney-15E

Ahah :-)

I apologise for my somewhat moody comment: I get annoyed when people imply "you HAVE to have clicked on something". Also the "efficient explanation and useful answer" were mostly directed towards Apple (and as you may have noticed, English is not my primary language :-s)

I still have hope, because my (same) issue with QT was solved with an update. We'll see how it goes with the next one!

Preview keeps launching with the "open file" prompt in macOS Tahoe