Changing Default Apps For Various Types Of Files. You can also change the default app or program to open certain file types, such as photos and videos. Here’s how: Open Finder. Right-click on the file you want to open a different app. On the menu, click Get Info. A box will appear. Find “Open with:” Click it. Every document or file that you save on your Mac is associated with a specific application in such a way that, when you try to open it, you always do it with that app, and not with another, when you double-click on the icon of that file in the Finder. However, it is possible to change the default app that opens a file. For example, for presentations made with PowerPoint always open with Keynote. Back in the pre-Mac OS X and macOS days, Apple’s System 9 and earlier relied on hidden metadata to associate files with apps. File extensions, those bits of text that follow a period at the end.
When you download, copy, or transfer a file to your Mac, chances are the file you copy has an app associated with it. Your macOS has several apps that are set to default for common file types, be it an HTML webpage, a JPG photo file, or an MP4 video file. But some of you use third-party apps, apps like VLC music player, a photo viewer/editor, or a third-party browser like Google Chrome. In this guide, I will show you how you can set or change default apps for a file on your Mac.
While many users are good with the Safari, some of you use Chrome browser on Mac which is a third-party browser for Mac, but webpage files on the Mac are associated with default Safari app. Similarly, for music files, iTunes, and for photo files, Preview app.
How To Change Default Programs Mac
Finally, while Mac OS X will usually set Photoshop as the default app for opening PSD files (since PSD is Photoshop’s native file format), it still never hurts to check. Plus, if you have multiple versions of Photoshop installed on your computer, it’s worth making sure that your PSD files will open in the newest version, as we're about to see. How to set your default email reader on Mac. Mail is likely the default email app on your Mac, but just in case you have others downloaded, you can set the default reader. Here’s how: Launch Mail from your dock or the Finder. Click Mail in the menu bar at the top of the screen. Click Preferences. Click the drop-down next to Default Mail Reader.
These apps open the common file types by default, these are fine, and you’ll be happy enough using them. But in case you have installed another app that you think it’s better than the default apps, you can change these default apps on your Mac to something different to open the file type.
How To Set Or Change Default Apps On Mac
Before you start with the guide, you still have the option to open the file in other apps temporarily.
- Right-click on the file you want to open and select Open With where you can choose the appropriate app.
For example, a file with extension .jpg opens in the built-in photo viewer app Preview by default, but at times you want to edit that photo in some photo editing apps such as Photoshop. You don’t often do edits on Photoshop which is why you don’t need to change the default app to Photoshop, you can choose the Open With menu to open the file in other apps temporarily.
However, if you want to set or change the default apps for a particular file, here’s what you need to do.
- Right-click on a file that you want to change the app for and select Get Info.
- Click Open With if the section isn’t already expanded.
- Now click the dropdown and choose an app you want to open the file in by default.
- Click Change All & Continue when the Finder asks you if you’re sure.
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Change The Default App To Open Files On Mac Windows 10
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Whenever you double click on any file on your Mac within the Finder, the operating system will by default find the most suitable app to open it and reveal its contents. Most of the time everything will work without issues, but there are other times when your Mac will either not use the ideal app to open a file or will simply not be able to find a suitable app at all.
If you have experienced this issue before and would like to know how to solve it, read along. What causes this issue most of the time is that you might have two or more apps that support the type of file that you want to open.
For Example: Some very frequent culprits of this are archiving apps like Winrar or UnRarX, both of which support very similar file types. Another common occurrence is mix-ups between video players like VLC and Quicktime, with the latter opening files only supported by the former.
What you need to do in order to solve this issue is to change the default app for opening certain types of files, or at least choose a different app from the available ones to open a particular file. Follow these steps to learn how to do just that.
Open File with Different Program
Step 1: First, start by locating the file you want to open within the Finder.
Step 2: If you want to open the file with a different app than the one set by default only once, then all you have to do is right-click on the file, click on the Open With option and then select the app you want to use from the list of available programs.
Set Default Program for Specific File Types
Step 1: To set a different default app for all files of a certain type, you can also start by locating a file of that type first and then by right-clicking on it. This time though, locate the Get Info option and click on it.
Step 2: This will display the information panel for that particular file. On it, look for the Open with: section located almost at the bottom of the window. If it is not open, click on the small triangle until the information is displayed just like on the screenshot below.
Step 3: There, you will see a dropdown menu that will display all of the apps that support the file and are capable of opening it. Click on this menu and then select the application that you want to use to open that file type from then on.
If you don’t find the app you are looking for on the list, simply click on Other… to look for one within the Applications folder.
Step 4: Once you select the application you want, click on the Change All… button to apply the changes. Then, confirm your selection on the next window.
Once you are done, just close the information panel and you will be set to go. From now on, every time you open any file of that type, it will open in the new application you selected.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Also See#applications #How-to/Guides
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