Preview App - Image selection jumps randomly after sorting when an image is deleted

aglayanaglaya · Jan 11, 2020

I'm using Preview app Version 11.0 (999.4) in Mac OS 10.15.2, though this issue existed in the previous versions of the app / OS as well.

I open a folder with images in Preview app, sort them by name, then delete an image. The cursor (image selected) jumps to a random image in the list. I have to scroll all the way back to where I was to view the next image. It is very cumbersome.

What I am hoping for is for it to honor my sorting and sequentially move down the list, even if a file gets deleted.

Please help.

Lifeisabeach · Jan 11, 2020

I don't normally use Preview but I did some experimenting to get a grasp on what you are experiencing. So what seems to be a random jump is actually a jump to what would have been the next image in the list before sorting the list by name. Unfortunately I don't see any way around this behavior. Your best bet is to switch to a different piece of software. What to use depends on your needs. I use Xee, which isn't free but will behave as you expect. It doesn't do thumbnails on the side like Preview does so if you need that, you'll need to look at other alternatives.

aglayanaglaya · Jan 11, 2020

Thank you for your response! I did look into alternative applications, but Preview's default seemingly random sort that is honored throughout the UX is baffling to me.

aglayanaglaya · Jan 11, 2020

I want an application that will show thumbnails (with easily customizable thumbnail and image size) for sorting through photos and deleting them along the way. Most importantly I want it to be simple. I know photographers use Lightroom for filtering photos, but there are way too many knobs I'm not interested in exploring, and they very much get in the way.

Lifeisabeach · Jan 11, 2020

aglayanaglaya said:
I want an application that will show thumbnails (with easily customizable thumbnail and image size) for sorting through photos and deleting them along the way. Most importantly I want it to be simple. I know photographers use Lightroom for filtering photos, but there are way too many knobs I'm not interested in exploring, and they very much get in the way.

Sequential is a few-frills freebie with thumbnails and easy to use. You can't adjust the thumbnail size that I can see, but the images can be resized quite easily.
Sequential 2 - Main

aglayanaglaya · Jan 11, 2020

Thank you!

MacInWin · Jan 12, 2020

I think you are thinking that by opening a host of images in Preview that somehow it is treating them as a whole. It is not. Each image is a separate file, and is preserved as such. Sorting them in Preview does nothing to the arrangement in the folder in which the files are kept, as you experienced. Lifeisabeach got it exactly right, delete one and it moved to the "next" image in order in the folder, not in Preview. Now, if you sort the images in the folder, I would presume that Preview would now follow that sort order. But files in folders can be sorted by name, date/time of creation, modification, etc, but I don't think they can be sorted manually. Never tried doing that to see. It might be worth you giving it a shot to see if that lets you do what you want.

Lifeisabeach · Jan 12, 2020

MacInWin said:
I think you are thinking that by opening a host of images in Preview that somehow it is treating them as a whole. It is not. Each image is a separate file, and is preserved as such. Sorting them in Preview does nothing to the arrangement in the folder in which the files are kept, as you experienced. Lifeisabeach got it exactly right, delete one and it moved to the "next" image in order in the folder, not in Preview. Now, if you sort the images in the folder, I would presume that Preview would now follow that sort order. But files in folders can be sorted by name, date/time of creation, modification, etc, but I don't think they can be sorted manually. Never tried doing that to see. It might be worth you giving it a shot to see if that lets you do what you want.

Actually my test folder was sorted by name, but when I dropped the folder in Preview, the app defaulted to a sort order of "None" within itself. The images weren't at all in the same order in Preview initially as they were in the folder. It's odd... "None" must mean "random"? I don't get it. That shouldn't even be an option. No one thinks, organizes, or browses that way.

MacInWin · Jan 12, 2020

"None" must somehow have metadata about the original location of the file when first created. The metadata does have file creation date, so t would be easy enough to keep the other. I noticed that on the Desktop, if you chose "none" the icons go all over the screen, maybe to where they were first "dropped?"

Lifeisabeach · Jan 12, 2020

MacInWin said:
"None" must somehow have metadata about the original location of the file when first created. The metadata does have file creation date, so t would be easy enough to keep the other. I noticed that on the Desktop, if you chose "none" the icons go all over the screen, maybe to where they were first "dropped?"

Yeah, it seems there should be some kind of logic to it even with "None". I used a folder full of wallpaper images I have for my MBA. I made a copy of the folder, then batch renamed the contents so they were sequentially named so I could more easily track the order they were in (they were sequentially named already but I simplified it for the test).

I just tried it again and every time I open my test folder, it sorts them by "None" starting in order with 17, 03, 02, 16, 28, 14, 15, and 01 every single time. I haven't bothered counting beyond that, but I can't see what the logic is here. (EDIT: it's in Preview that they are sorted by "None", not in the folder itself).