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Mac101: Always Open With

by Erica Sadun Apr 17th 2007 at 7:00PM

A file icon's stylized display often shows you a relationship between the file and the application that it opens in. For example, an HTML file that stores web page information might display a small Safari compass or a Firefox globe. Word files are marked with a blue W, Powerpoint files with a P, QuickTime movies with a stylized Q. These icon hints indicate which program will open and attempt to read the file when you double-click it in Finder.

Many file types can be used in more than one program. For example, you can play MP3 files in QuickTime or in iTunes, you can open a text file in TextEdit or in Word, movies in QuickTime or VLC. Finder allows you to change the application associated with each file. Here's how: Control-click (right-click) any file. A contextual menu opens over the file. Release any keys you are pressing and then press the option key. The menu item that had said "Open With" changes to "Always Open With". Select any application from the Always Open With submenu. Two things happen. First, your file will open in the application you select. Second, Finder updates the file's association so it will always open in that application. Its icon updates, changing to reflect its new "native" application.

Say, however, you want all your MP3 files to open in QuickTime or all your text files to open in TextEdit, or so forth. Do this instead. Select any representative file in Finder and choose File -> Get Info (Command-I). Locate the section of the Info pane named "Open with". Select the Application you want to use from the pop-up menu and then click Change All... By doing this, you instruct OS X to change the application association for all files on your computer that share the same type, text, MP3, MOV, XLS, or whatever.



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A file icon's stylized display often shows you a relationship between the file and the application that it opens in. For example, an HTML...
 

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Bob Gould

Cool Site

May 04 2007 at 1:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Adrian

Jeff, you're a dick.

April 19 2007 at 7:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kay Hargreaves

this blogging is a whole new wonderful world for me and i found out loads of stuff on this site i didn't know, being new to Mac. it's good to have son's recommendations to help their mums technology adventures.

April 19 2007 at 3:34 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
VanillaSpice

Heh, what an odd question, Mary! No, I am not a TUAW poster in disguise. I am just sick of the Erica-bashing, and I've been heartened to see I am not alone - quite a lot of people have expressed the same frustration recently.

April 18 2007 at 7:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
eric f

I concur. despite being a self proclaimed "Mac Expert", I did not know about the contextual menu option for "always open with".

Jeff, bite me.

April 18 2007 at 11:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joe

Is there a way to set this option for multiple machines simultaneously? We've had a problem at my workplace where TextEdit decided to be the default app for .DOC files. We want Word to handle it. Is there a .plist or something for this that I can manage?

April 18 2007 at 10:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kobe

Nice tip, but what about .EPS files?

Some of them are Illustrator files (vector) and some Photoshop (pixel). How can I undo the action "open all .EPS files with Photoshop"?

Now Photoshop tries to open/raster everything...

April 18 2007 at 5:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Danny

Good tip and even though I did know about it, I welcome this and all other entries so far on the new Mac 101 thread. People who are anxious that they might be overwhelmed by things they already know can always skip quickly over these posts.

Worth adding - though folk will soon see it for themselves - that you can get the 'Get Info' dialogue on the contextual menu (whether a file is selected or not), i.e. no need to go through the File menu as some might have assumed Erica's post implied. And if you hold down Option 'Get Info' becomes 'Open Inspector' (either from the File menu or the contextual menu).

'Open Inspector' is just like 'Get Info' but the window it opens changes the file it's focused on with the selection. (If tht explanation is not transparent, try it and you'll see.) The 'Inspector' can be very useful if you want to change the 'Opens With' or 'Permissions' of a small number of files without filling up the screen with 'Get Info' windows.

Holding down Option can bring a world of joy. I still regularly use this when clicking the close button on a window (or splodge-W). Holding down Option at the same time closes all windows (or tabs). It's done since at least OS 9 and once discovered it's a feature than can easily become a firm friend.

April 18 2007 at 4:34 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Biffo

Vanilla Spice, are you a TUAW poster in disguise?

April 18 2007 at 4:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sporobolus

this is not exactly "101" stuff, but determining the type of a file, is trickier than most users would expect; Mac OS X will use not only the filename extension, but also the creator code, and the file type code; when you change the application binding ("association") for all files of a type, it's the particular combination of these, not e.g. all ".txt" files, that you are changing

April 18 2007 at 12:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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