Preview.app always crashes

Solution 1:

Based on your input in the question and in the comments, it looks like the Preview app became corrupted. This sometimes happens on very rare occasions. I think you have two options from this point on:

1. Adventurous route: extract and re-install Preview from the installation download
2. Possibly impactful route: re-install OSX

I recommend you try the first route first and if that fails, try the second one.

1. Adventurous route: extract and re-install Preview from the installation download

• Download and install Pacifist, a tool to extract software from OSX installation files.
• Get your OSX installation DVD or (if you don't have any) download OSX from the App Store.
• Use Pacifist to browse the downloaded OSX installation image. Navigate to: "Contents of Essentials.pkg" > "Applications" > "Preview.app" and click to (re)install it.

2. Possibly impactful route: re-install OSX

• Get your OSX installation DVD or (if you don't have any) download OSX from the App Store.
• Start the installation (I'm not exactly sure if this works if Yosemite is already installed; I think it's ok. Would be nice of someone could confirm this!)
• When your Mac reboots during installation, select the "Re-install OSX" option.

Note that using option 2 your data and settings should be preserved, but don't depend on it. Always make a backup of your files and settings before upgrading your OS.

Solution 2:

I just had a similar problem and as mentioned in one of the comments deleting ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview/ worked for me.