What do you use to preview .EPS on a Mac?

From what I am reading this is a problem for a lot of people.

I stumbled on this and thought it might help:

My workaround for this was to go to Photoshop, File, Scripts, Image Processor, and save all files as jpg. It runs automatically and does so pretty quickly. This allows you to preview all of the eps files as jpgs so you can determine which image you would like to use in your layout. Hope this helps!

from this article.

I also found this also. I don’t think I saw it mentioned here. It might be another option.

FIX 4: Use a Third-Party App

There exist quite a few third-party apps that come with the EPS QuickLook preview option. On the Apple Support Forum, a few users tried out the EPSView app, so you may either try out that one or use any other of your choice. If you are giving a shot to EPS View, then download and extract it to any convenient location on your PC.

As per the instructions from the developer: ā€œThe QuickLook plug-in is inside the app. All you need to do is copy the app to Applications and run it once. After that, QuickLook in the Finder should start working for EPS files.ā€ You should restart your PC if the app didn’t work out on the first try.

From this article.

So out of curiosity, does that script simply make a copy of the EPS files? What happens when you save more EPS – do you need to run the script again?

I think I’m going to look into a third party option. You’d think being the primary hardware for graphic designers for years, Apple would get with the program? :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

That I don’t know. When I’ve used the batch processing on PS I’ve always saved to another folder. I was always too worried I’d screw it up and change the actual files lol :stuck_out_tongue:

I don’t own a Mac, but this seems to be something they have purposely removed. :frowning:

@LadyJemima Did you try to follow the directions at my link. I know it is a little bit of fiddling with package contents of the Quick Look app, but it does seem to be pretty straightforward.

When opening vectors/EPS files on an Apple computer, you might find that Apple’s Preview program opens the file. This is because Preview is set as the default application for opening vectors/EPS files and provides a consistent experience across all Apple platforms.

@monica547 You might want to refer to this.

Trying to do this but hitting a wall with permissions even though I am an Admin. Will keep you posted.

So I was unable to change the info.plist per the article CraigB linked to (also note: this is NOT a Monterey-specific issue, I’ve been unable to do this for years). Anyway, got in touch with my IT guy who said the easiest solution was just to batch rename any selected .eps with an .ai extension, and BAM, it worked.

Now, I only did this with one folder because I wanted to make sure that there isn’t some adverse effect to doing so that I’m not thinking of. They’re still .eps files, but the iMac READS them as .ai and allows a preview.

Thoughts? Good workaround?

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Yes, there is a third-party add-on for macOS called ā€œArt Viewā€ that provides a quick preview of Adobe Illustrator files, including .EPS files, without the need to open them in Illustrator or other graphic design software. Art View displays a thumbnail preview along with a scrollable view of the entire artwork, allowing you to quickly browse through multiple EPS files.

Art View was developed by Code Line and was available as a standalone application or as a plugin for macOS Finder. However, please note that as an AI language model, I don’t have real-time information on the availability or current status of specific software or add-ons. It’s recommended to visit the official website of Code Line or search for Art View on reputable software download platforms to check if it’s still available and compatible with the latest macOS version.

Old thread. But I just wanted to add that .eps is a very old and obsolete format that does not handle transparency. It really should be avoided by not saving more of them.

As for viewing, they don’t show up in Bridge? Never tried. I never have enough .eps files in one place at any given time that I get lost amongst them.

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Bridge displays and handles EPS as well as any other format.

There was a command I added to Mac somewhere that allowed this. Maybe I already posted it. I’ll try to find it again.

I think I said already I dont like Mac preview and prefer to open in the application for actual view. Thanks a few seconds.

For me it seems to be working - there seems to be a working solution solution here (quoted in the apple forum) https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253307271?answerId=256463704022#256463704022