qlmanage -o fails to save preview to nominated directory on Catalina

Hello,


As part of testing the qlgenerator that ships as part of our app, we have a test that calls the following command:


qlmanage -o /tmp/<unique-dir-name> -g SQuicklook.qlgenerator -c com.bo.s.dr -p path/to/testing/source/file.dr


This generates a file structure under /tmp/<unique-dir-name> and we examine the generated Preview.png file in there. Under 10.14 this is all working perfectly.


However, under Catalina, running the exact same command produces the following output:


qlmanage -o /tmp/ -g SQuicklook.qlgenerator -c com.bo.s.dr -p path/to/testing/source/file.dr
Testing Quick Look preview with files:
  /full/path/to/path/to/testing/source/file.dr
  - force using content type UTI: com.bo.s.dr
  - force using generator at path: SQuicklook.qlgenerator
* path/to/testing/source/file.dr produced an image preview
Can't decode raw image for path/to/testing/source/file.dr



Running `qlmanage -g SQuicklook.qlgenerator -c com.bo.s.dr -p path/to/testing/source/file.dr` (i.e. without the -o parameter) produces the preview image with no problems on screen. That indicates to me at least that the generator is working fine, it's just that as soon as I try to write it out to disk, qlmanage is doing something weird.


Does anyone know if qlmanage -o behaviour has changed with Catalina?


Are there any insights as to why this doesn't work anymore on Catalina?


For the record, getting it to generate a thumbnail (-t) works fine on Catalina. It's just the preview (-p) that's stopped working.


Thanks in advance!



Heather.

Replies

I can confirm this issue with the very same symptoms on 10.15.3. Did you file a bug report (and ever got an answer)? The preview works fine on Catalina, just it's hard to test automatically.

Bug report filed, no answer received.
I have this issue - AI files not previewing in Quick Look on Catalina. When viewing an AI file in a window pane or hitting space bar, all that shows is the AI icon (every other file type previews OK). Being forced to open an Illustrator file just to see what it looks like is beyond inconvenient. If I right click and select ‘open in Preview’ I can see the file content but as I say, that’s far from ideal, it’s Quick Look I need for my workflow.
I’ve had extensive discussions with Adobe techs who are sure it’s a MacOS issue and yesterday spent 7hrs chewing the fat on this with 5 different Apple advisors. The most puzzling thing to me is, I can’t find on any Adobe or Apple forum another sole with the same issue. I do know I’m not alone though as 2 of my work colleagues have the same issue and are looking to me to resolve it but, as I say, there’s that bloody wall!
My iMac with this issue is 2013 running Catalina (updates not compatible) the 2 other designers are working on 2017 iMac (Big Sur) and 2020 iMac (Big Sur). I also have a 2011 iMac running High Sierra - AI files on that preview just fine.
To save anyone who feels they can contribute wasting their time, I’ll confirm trouble shooting already done (to no avail):
• All AI files are saved with PDF compatibility.
• AI preferences file deleted from library.
• Reinstalled Adobe Illustrator (3 times)
• Through Terminal - reset ‘qlmanage -r cache’
• Through Terminal - Cd ~/desktop - find . -name '.DS_Store -type f -delete
• Reinstalled MacOS Catalina
Advice for the next step is to reinstall older OS like High Sierra or Mojave, if AI preview returns it will confirm an issue with Catalina. I may try that but would be massively disruptive as I have 1TB data on this iMac and links to several cloud based resources. Also, downgrading doesn’t solve the issue of why it’s happening to me and 2 others using Big Sur with no sign of it being an issue to anyone else!
Any ideas gratefully received!