Can I set a higher resolution than 150 DPI when using the online converter?

No. The online PDF to JPG tool on pdf-converter-mac.net renders pages at 150 DPI with quality 90. If you need higher resolution, use Automator or Preview’s per-page export.

Why does Preview only export the page I am looking at?

Preview is a document viewer, not a batch image converter. Its Export command is designed to save the currently selected page as an image. There is no built-in option to export all pages at once.

Will Automator work with password-protected PDFs?

Automator may require you to enter the password before running the Render PDF Pages as Images action. The ability to process protected PDFs depends on the version of Automator you have.

Does the online converter keep my PDF files private?

The site processes your PDF temporarily to generate the images and then removes the files. For sensitive documents, consider using Automator offline on your Mac.

Preview Only Exports One Page? Export Every PDF Page on Mac

Preview exports one page at a time. That is the whole story. Search “preview export all pages as jpg” and you will find a lot of frustrated users who expected a batch export. Preview cannot do it. Here are three practical fixes: an Automator workflow, a manual per-page method, and the site’s online PDF to JPG converter.

Why Preview Only Exports One Page

File > Export to JPEG, PNG, TIFF or HEIC saves only the currently selected page. The export dialog lets you adjust Format, Quality (for JPEG) and Resolution (pixels per inch). It does not offer a way to select multiple pages. Preview is a viewer, not a batch processing tool. To convert a multi-page PDF, you need another method.

Open View > Thumbnails (Option+Command+2) to see which page is active. The highlighted thumbnail is the page that will export. The complaint “preview only exports first page” is misleading: it exports whichever page you have selected, which is the first page by default.

Fix 1 Use Automator to Render All PDF Pages as Images

Automator is a Mac utility that batch-processes PDFs. Its “Render PDF Pages as Images” action outputs every page as a separate image file. Use this for many PDFs or PDFs with many pages.

Set Up the Automator Action

Open Automator and create a new workflow.
Add a “Render PDF Pages as Images” action.
Choose your output format (JPEG, PNG, TIFF) and set the resolution and quality.
Run the workflow on your PDF.

Automator processes every page and saves each one as an individual image. This solves the single-page problem entirely.

Fix 2 Export Each Page Individually in Preview

No extra software. Preview can export all pages, but one at a time. This is tedious for long documents. It works for short PDFs.

Per-Page Export Steps

Open the PDF in Preview.
Press Option+Command+2 to show the Thumbnails sidebar.
Click the first page thumbnail.
Go to File > Export to JPEG (or your preferred format). Set the Quality and Resolution. Click Save.
Click the next page thumbnail.
Repeat File > Export for each page.

You control resolution per page. For a 10-page document you repeat the export step 10 times. That is why users search for workarounds.

Fix 3 Use the Online PDF to JPG Converter

No install. No app. The site’s PDF to JPG tool converts every page at once. It renders each page at 150 DPI with quality 90 and returns multi-page PDFs as a ZIP file containing one JPG per page.

Use the Online Converter

Go to pdf-converter-mac.net and select the PDF to JPG tool.
Upload your PDF.
Click convert. The tool processes all pages.
Download the ZIP file.

After downloading, extract the ZIP. If Safari’s “Open safe files after downloading” setting (Safari > Settings > General) is enabled, Safari unzips the file automatically. Otherwise, double-click the ZIP and Archive Utility extracts the images to a folder. This is the fastest route: no software installation, any number of pages.

Comparing the Three Fixes

Automator: Best for frequent conversions or large batches. Requires initial setup but processes all pages automatically. Full control over output format, resolution, and quality.
Per-page Export in Preview: No new software. Works for very short PDFs (2 to 5 pages). Time-consuming for longer documents. Per-page control over export settings.
Online Converter: No installation. Handles any PDF length. Output fixed at 150 DPI and quality 90. Returns a ZIP file. Relies on an internet connection.

Need higher resolution than 150 DPI? Automator or Preview’s per-page export let you set a higher value. If speed and simplicity matter most, the online converter is the easiest way to export every PDF page as JPG on Mac.

What About Safari and ZIP Files?

When you download a ZIP from the online converter, Safari may handle it automatically. If “Open safe files after downloading” is checked in Safari > Settings > General, Safari unzips the folder as soon as the download finishes. You will see a folder on your desktop or in your Downloads folder containing all the JPG images.

If Safari does not unzip automatically, double-click the ZIP file. macOS opens it with Archive Utility. Click Extract to save the images to a location of your choice. This requires no extra apps.