Change font size for PDF Text comments in Preview

Question

I would like to change the font size for PDF Text comments in Preview? I am aware that acrobat allows you to do this. I am looking for a solution in Preview (Version 8.1 (877.7))

This is a variation of this post, or that post which apply respectively to text font size or comments in MS Word.

Here I want to change the font in the comments of Preview.

Even if I copy a bigger text font inside it, it is made smaller once the note is closed. As this example shows, the comment font is too small for my eyes :-)

This might be relevant? http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070304081248710

Attempt

When I type

defaults read com.apple.Preview | grep PVAnnotationFontSize_5

I get

   "PVAnnotationFontSize_5" = 9;

So I tried

defaults write com.apple.Preview PVAnnotationFontSize_5 12

But it doe not seem to do the trick (even after login out and in again).

It did change the value though as can be seen via the Property list editor

found in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preview.plist as suggested by @ankiiiiiii

Answer 1

I figured it out. Download the tinker tool, then go to fonts and increase the size of the help tag and you're golden. The size of the notes in the preview will increase to 24. Relaunch preview to see the change. You can even delete the tinker tool after the setting is changed. The change in font size will remain. :) –

Answer 2

You have to use defaults write in a slightly differently way with Preview and other sandboxed apps.

Using defaults write com.apple.Preview ... modifies (or creates) a plist file in ~/Library/Preferences.

As pointed out, that's not where Preview saves (or looks for) its preference file, which is in a nested subfolder of ~/Library/Containers instead.

To modify the correct plist, use: defaults write -app Preview ...

You'll need to make sure you have the correct key, too. I have the following keys in my Preview plist:

"PVAnnotationFontSize_12" = 10;
"PVAnnotationFontSize_17" = 10;
"PVAnnotationFontSize_5" = "11.99199";
"PVAnnotationFontSize_6" = 10;

However, modifying those does not change the text size for either Annotations or Notes. Annotations seem to keep the last settings used. Notes don't seem to be editable in the UI.

Also, note that you don't need to use grep to read a specific plist key. E.g. defaults read com.apple.Preview PVAnnotationFontSize_5

EDIT: Having probed into the plist data and the text strings within the Preview app itself, I'm not convinced that there is an editable key for the font size or style in Preview's Notes.

Answer 3

How can I change default font Notes - Sierra, High Sierra Is this relevant? I think the same could be done for Preview but I don't know how to figure out the hexadecimal code for the font and font size I want. I am struggling with the same problem and I really want a solution.