Disable Sidebar in Preview

[rounak]

Preview:
When Preview is opening a pdf document, it opens the Sidebar by default.
How to disable the Sidebar from opening automatically?

[Zeels90]

At the top-right hand of your Preview application is a button that says "Sidebar" click that and the sidebar should turn off. OR simply put your cursor over the space where the sidebar meets the rest of the application and dragging it till its so small you can't even see it works to.

[rounak]

At the top-right hand of your Preview application is a button that says "Sidebar" click that and the sidebar should turn off. OR simply put your cursor over the space where the sidebar meets the rest of the application and dragging it till its so small you can't even see it works to.

Thanks for the reply.
I know how to close the sidebar. But I want to stop it from opening when i open documents.

[Zeels90]

Hmm thats odd. What do you mean open when you open documents? Like the sidebar extends out every time you open something? Because I closed mine and even when I open new things it stays closed. I'm messing with it though.

[rounak]

Hmm thats odd. What do you mean open when you open documents? Like the sidebar extends out every time you open something? Because I closed mine and even when I open new things it stays closed. I'm messing with it though.

yes, exactly....it opens everytime i open a new document even though i close it. It does not stay closed.

[Zeels90]

That's very strange and not the cash with my preview. You say your opening PDFs right? Like documents with many pages right?

[rounak]

yes pdf documents

[Zeels90]

I think that might be unavoidable then because thats the only way I know of to really navigate through multiple page PDFs and documents using preview. I guess you can might just have to close it every time it pops up or deal with it Unless someone else knows the solution. I'm not to experienced with advanced tools in Preview.

[rounak]

thanks for the help anyway

[Zeels90]

Sure thing, sorry I couldn't really find a definitive solution though.

[mrplow]

You could try this:
Open Preview -> Preferences -> PDF tab
Untick 'open sidebar only for table of contents'

[Zeels90]

Good find, I hadn't even seen that.

[rounak]

You could try this:
Open Preview -> Preferences -> PDF tab
Untick 'open sidebar only for table of contents'

Problem 1:
actually, what happens is that sidebar does not open when i open a pdf from within preview. It happens when i open it by searching from spotlight.

Problem 2: (slightly offtopic)
When I search in Spotlight for a pdf file, the file opens with the name of the file highlighted in the contents of the file and I see a rotating wheel in the sidebar (of Preview) which keeps searching for more matches.
can I use spotlight to only search files not its contents?
Thanks in advance.

[mrplow]

I can't seem to find a consistant way of keeping the sidebar hidden.

Why not try Quicklook?

Not sure I fully understand Problem 2 I'm afraid. But you could try kind:pdf in the spotlight search to limit it to pdf files rather than contents

[rounak]

I can't seem to find a consistant way of keeping the sidebar hidden.

that remains the case with me too.

Why not try Quicklook?

no, thats not what i need. i use spotlight to open everything----i dont want to look-----i am sure about what files i want to open---its just that i wanted spotlight not to look at the contents

But you could try kind:pdf in the spotlight search to limit it to pdf files rather than contents

that does solve the problem of looking into contents