Hi, I spent a while before moving to OS Sonoma because I preferred the previous iteration. I'm now running Sonoma 14.5 and having problems trying to print two pages from a 105-page PDF. It's no longer enough to just specify the page numbers with commas between but I have to choose from the page thumbnails. My problem is that I can't find how to deselect them all at once in order to select the couple of pages I need to print. Anyone who can help will earn my eternal gratitude! I'd love to be able to change the print menu back to how it was.
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Sonoma question
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The print dialog boxes in Preview and Safari don't seem to provide an obvious way to "deselect" all the pages. Not that I can see; but perhaps I'm just missing it.
You can, however, enter the first page you want to print in the "Range from" boxes (e.g. "5 to 5"), which deselects everything else, and then simply add in the other pages you need by selecting them individually in the sidebar (⌘ + click).
Alternatively, while you're still viewing the PDF itself, display its pages as thumbnails in Preview's sidebar (View --> Thumbnails) and then select (⌘ + click) the individual pages you want to print. When you go to print (⌘P), you can then click the "Selection in Preview" option to print just those pages.
Thanks donawalt, I agree with what you say. The problem was that I didn't want to select a range, but three individual pages from a long document and when I pressed selection every one was highlighted. I think we've got an answer, though, in the post below. Thank you for your help!
Thank you Apathist, we have ourselves an answer and you have won my undying appreciation!
Oh dear, though, what a clumsy method it is now compared with the simplicity of how it used to be!! I wonder whose bright idea this was. Thanks againSonoma is an unmitigated disaster; a total abject failure by Apple. I've been an Apple user since System 6 and have upgraded EVERY single time any upgrade was available, back when you had to pay for upgrades! Sonoma is THE first time in my personal history that I have taken a pass on upgrading, all due to Apple's total lack of quality.
Tim Cook is 100% responsible for this.
please don't blame yourselves for upgrading
we are weened to what they command as well as buy more products and monthly subscriptions.
as far as the printing problem, i would make a new document then print that with a 10% code at the bottom
white that out, then shove that into the rest of the pages.
this was in the 1990-2005 era when humans read text tho.
i hoped this helped and made some1 laugh and feel better about this 2024!
we are weened to what they command as well as buy more products and monthly subscriptions.
as far as the printing problem, i would make a new document then print that with a 10% code at the bottom
white that out, then shove that into the rest of the pages.
this was in the 1990-2005 era when humans read text tho.
i hoped this helped and made some1 laugh and feel better about this 2024!
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For what it's worth, it's the same on Ventura.
I wonder what option did you have on your previous system?
Could you just enter the desired page ranges like this (this screenshot is from Edge):
I simply don't remember if the standard Print dialog had this option in earlier system versions.
BTW, you can probably just open your PDF in a browser that doesn't use the system Print dialog. That is, any browser that's NOT Safari: Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Vivaldi etc. Their print dialogs all have the option to specify page ranges like in the screenshot above. Then print your PDF from there.
P.S. Plus, you can print from the free Acrobat Reader, which also has the option to enter the desired page range (e.g. 1-3, 5, 7).
P.P.S. ...or from the free Foxit PDF Reader, which also has this option.
In short, just use any app that doesn't use Apple's lame print dialog.
Thanks, yes I don't remember that Mac's print dialog ever had the option to enter non-consecutive custom page ranges. I googled print dialog screenshots for other recent systems, and this option is nowhere there. It would make too much sense.
I got intrigued by this thread, so I looked around in my own collection:
to my surprise NO application or utility has this option any more.
I must admit that I did not miss it, but still ... what's going on?
Maybe coincidence, but modern programming languages ALSO lost the option to run non-consecutive series.
As far as I know ALGOL, PASCAL, PL1 and IDA were the last. C, C++, C# and JAVA do not have it.
Could there be a relation?
;JOOP!
Unless I misunderstand your point, it's nearly exactly the opposite (which is what I conveyed in my posts). The apps relevant to this topic DO have the option to enter non-consecutive page ranges IF they use their own Print dialog.
It's the standard macOS Print dialog that doesn't have this option. (They added some semblance of it recently by allowing us to select specific thumbnails, which option can cause more confusion than help, as we can see from this thread.)
Therefore, the apps that use the standard Print dialog don't have the option to enter non-consecutive page ranges (e.g, Safari and Preview).
Other apps do have this ability through their own Print dialogs (all browsers except Safari, 3rd-party PDF readers, Adobe Creative Cloud apps and more).
Thank you for all the suggestions. I'm going to open an older OS on an old computer and see what the alternatives were and whether I was dreaming! I know I didn't have to select from a sidebar, unless it's a long time since I needed to print non-consecutive pages.
1) I have given facts, not just my opinion; just like you did.
2) It's clear that one can not blame APPLE for this: it is a matter of options in applications.
;JOOP!
Once again, I'm not sure I'm interpreting your reply correctly. (In particular, not sure what facts you provided).
But the facts are the following:
In brief:
In this particular case, the blame is undeniably on Apple, as it never provided a human-oriented option to print non-consecutive page ranges in its Print dialog.
In detail:
Every software where developers cared to provide a human-oriented, professionally designed print dialog UI to the users, had the option to enter non-consecutive page ranges since at least the 1990s.
macOS itself, however, has never been this kind of software. Mac's Print dialog has always been a sad, buggy, poorly designed concoction. Even during the times when the print industry was booming (in fact, it was even worse than now back then). Like I mentioned, most professional apps for desktop publishing implemented their own Print dialogs because Apple's dialog was a total disaster.
Now, you also mentioned:
I'm myself a developer with quite a few years of experience in the publishing industry. Plus I also developed several print/export dialogs of sorts. I can assure you that the issue of non-consecutive page ranges has nothing to do with the options of programming languages, whether modern or antique ones.
Once again, the ability to specify non-consecutive page ranges is available in most apps now - and has been for decades.
It's Apple's own Print dialog where this option is not implemented. Apple had 30+ years to get it right - and yet it still didn't. And that's why apps that use Apple's default Print dialog - such as Preview and Safari - don't have this option.
I disagree: you can not blame APPLE for NOT providing something that you seem to need,
while several applications do so and take the pressure off APPLE.
I could blame APPLE for NOT providing NTFS by default. (No, I don't really need it, but some do).
And, you had better left out all your credits and experience years, while argumenting about something irrelevant.
Many people here are experienced and do not mention it.
You are right or you are wrong.
;JOOP!
All good suggestions, I'm sure. But when I'm faced with a similar problem and just need to get the damn pages printed, I simply drag the pages I need from the Preview sidebar onto my desktop and print from there, one by one. I wouldn't do this for more than a small handful of pages, though.
That's how I do it.
The process of printing separate pages and series is little more than
correctly specifying that non-consecutive series in a print dialog.
Over the years I missed many things supported by the OS of that time.
Solution 1: make it yourself; not the solution for everyone.
Solution 2: find 3rd party software (on the net) that does the job.
Solution 3: send a request to the OS manufacturer (i.e.APPLE).
That may have a better chance for success than I had in the past with Burroughs, Digital Equipment, IBM or Suse.
Solution 4: send a request to the manufacturer of your favourite utility. I once had success with LibreOffice.
;JOOP!
Nah there's nothing wrong with mentioning your experience, when appropriate. People don't do it for useless bragging. It's about providing context. In discussions on specialized topics, mentioning relevant experience helps indicate that you have expanded knowledge in that area.