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Preview Bug - highlighted text is not saved when closing PDF despite saving changes

This bug is random but I find it that there are times when I highlight texts in the pdf, I save the changes, quit preview, and when I reopen the pdf some highlights are gone.

Posted on Feb 4, 2022 4:44 AM

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Posted on Feb 6, 2022 7:56 PM

Im experiencing precisely the same issue. I have tried editing highlights with different PDF documents, I also updated macOS to 12.2, but the problem persists.


My only way to get rid of this issue is exhausting. I have to make a duplicate PDF (which has many of the highlights undone) and highlight them once more using the original (unsaved) document as a reference. Sometimes, the duplicate also has some highlights undone, so I have to repeat this process until all the highlights appear on the following duplicate PDF.


I want to continue using Preview as it's pretty seamless with macOS. I would appreciate some fix because this is making me go crazy.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 6, 2022 7:56 PM in response to VikingOSX

Im experiencing precisely the same issue. I have tried editing highlights with different PDF documents, I also updated macOS to 12.2, but the problem persists.


My only way to get rid of this issue is exhausting. I have to make a duplicate PDF (which has many of the highlights undone) and highlight them once more using the original (unsaved) document as a reference. Sometimes, the duplicate also has some highlights undone, so I have to repeat this process until all the highlights appear on the following duplicate PDF.


I want to continue using Preview as it's pretty seamless with macOS. I would appreciate some fix because this is making me go crazy.

Feb 4, 2022 7:01 AM in response to Shields_MCMXCIX

I cannot reproduce this with Preview on Monterey v12.2, or even previously on Big Sur 11.6.3. Update to macOS 12.2, and see if this issue persists afterward.


Providing there are no user change restrictions on the PDF, Preview will automatically update (autosave) the PDF with the highlight annotations that you add, providing the PDF is residing on a filesystem compatible with autosave. If it isn't, an attempt to autosave those annotation changes would provoke a dialog stating that autosave can't do its job, but a manual save should overcome that issue.

Preview Bug - highlighted text is not saved when closing PDF despite saving changes

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