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I want to open the same pdf three times with Preview so I can compare the pages side by side. I came across this Stack Exchange post about how to do this with terminal and how to use automator to add a service which opens the pdf via a contextual service menu. But when I do this to open the same pdf multiple times, I get the Preview icon in the dock for each copy of the pdf that I open.

Normally preview would only have one icon on my doc for all the different pdfs I have open (so long as each pdf is different). Is there a way to open the same pdf multiple times without having Preview clutter my dock?

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user2237160
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1 Answers1

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No.

The Dock reflects the running instances of UI applications, as you're a literally running multiple copies of Preview you will see multiple icons in the dock.

Using the open terminal command with -n option forces a new instance to be opened. From the the man page:

The open command opens a file (or a directory or URL), just as if you had
double-clicked the file's icon. If no application name is specified, the
default application as determined via LaunchServices is used to open the
specified files.

The options are as follows:
<snip…>
-n  Open a new instance of the application(s) even if one is already running.
Craig
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  • Is there any other way i can use preview to open a second copy of the pdf? Or is preview functionality just limited to only one pdf at a time open per preview process? Is there any other good app that can do what i am looking for? – user2237160 Nov 18 '14 at 03:04
  • Preview is a document based app and can open multiple documents. What you are trying to do is open a second/third view of the **same** document and the Preview application doesn't do that. If it's specifically PDF's you want to work with try the App Store and search for PDF tools or similar. – Craig Nov 18 '14 at 03:07