Changing file associations in finder

Hi there,
My 1st post.
I did a search for this and although I have read some close answers, everything I tried has not worked.
I want to associate a bunch of java files to an editor I like to use called Smultron. I have tried the following:
* Command-I -> Open with -> change all.
* Right click -> Open with -> other -> Always open with.
* Right click -> Get info -> Open with -> change all.
* RCDefaultApp (version 2.0.1.X) to change ectensions and file types.
* Also reset the LaunchService database with : /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchS ervices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
None of these solutions work unless changing a single file. That is, I am expecting to change all file types of type java to use Smultron by somehow setting a change all or always open with....
Two other observations: By manually changing each of my java files individually, I am able to get finder to recognize them as associated with Smultron. But the icons are randomly shown as Smultron icons or .java icons and they are never the same when I re-open finder.....even though in all the files the icon is for Smutron when shown in Get info.
I should also point out that I have killed finder and the restart didn;t work.
I rebooted and same problem persists. I am not running FileVault.
Is there any bonafide way to change a file type associtiation so that it affects all files of that type on the system without having to do this manually?
Many thanks in advance

You can try applying the 10.5.6 Combo Update This is a fuller install, as opposed to an incremental "delta" update so it should overwrite any files that are damaged or missing. It does not matter if you have applied it before.
Remember to Verify Disk before update and repair permissions after update from /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.
But... this sounds like it may be the applet and not your Java or Finder that is to blame. Look in /Utilities/Console log for clues. You can copy & paste here.
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack

Similar Messages

Can I mass-change file associations?

On a Win7 I installed CS4 and CC. However, Bridge CC (although installed last) has *all* files associated with CS4. Which of course makes my life very difficult right now. Is there a way to massively change file associations in Bridge CC? I've done it many many times one-by-one in the past, and I really don't want to do it again.
Thanks

Yes, if you want to mess with registry. Try this solution for CS6, but use CS4. Will be slightly differenct as CS4 was 32 bit program.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\Photoshop.exe\shell\op en\command
This key was set to the path for Photoshop CS6 when it should have been set to Photoshop CC.
In other words, in my case, it was set to:
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6 (64 Bit)\Photoshop.exe" "%1"
When I changed the CS6 to a CC, in other words, so the whole key reads:
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC (64 Bit)\Photoshop.exe" "%1"

I cannot globally change file associations

I used to have Aquamacs installed. All .tex files were associated with Aquamacs. Later, I uninstalled Aquamacs and installed Textmate. I'd like to have all .tex files associated with Textmate.
To do this I went to a .tex file in the Finder, right clicked for More Info, went down to Open With and changed the associated app in the dropdown box from AquaMacs to Textmate. I then clicked "Change All...".
I would now expect that all .tex files on my machine open by default with Textmate, however this is not the case. Some of the .tex files open with Textmate; others still have the old Aquamacs associated. There is no discernible pattern as to why "Change All..." worked for some files but not others. I thought maybe the Finder process needed to be restarted for the global change to take effect, but I've restarted my computer and the old associations are still there.
What I'm doing now is going through my harddrive hunting for files to change on a file by file basis. But this is frustrating and seems like the sort of busywork
1. Is this a bug?
2. Is there a way to force "Change All..." to actually affect all of the files?
3. Is there a way to remove Aquamacs from all Open With options? Since this program has been uninstalled, it seems like a bug for it to appear as an option at all.
Thanks.
Mac Mini Duo 1.66 GHz, 2 GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Bill
The following Terminal commands will reset your Launch Services database, which should remove Aquamacs from the "Open With …" lists, and should then allow you to use the "Change All …" button.
Open the Terminal (from /Applications/Utilities) and copy and paste the following into the Terminal window, one line at a time, with a return after each line:
cd /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks
cd LaunchServices.framework/Support
lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
rm -f /LibraryCaches/com.apple.LaunchServices-014*.csstore
killall FinderThe last command will force a restart of the Finder (so you may find windows that you had "docked" re-appearing: don't worry!)
Let us know if you still have problems.
iBook dual USB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Can't change file association (Powerpoint 2011 to Powerpoint 2008)

Hello
On my iMac I've recently installed MS Office 2011. The old version of Office 2008 is still installed as well. I've got some problems with the new version of Powerpoint (2011). Therefore I'd like to use the old version of Powerpoint (2008) for all my Powerpoint files.
Unfortunately it is not possible to just uninstall Powerpoint 2011 without uninstalling the whole Office suite. So my idea was: changing the file association and let opening all Powerpoint files with the older version.
The problem is: I can change the association of a single file. But if I try to apply the changes to all files of this type, it does not work. This behaviour only exists for Office files.
Does anybody know, why this happens?
Any help is appreciated. Thank you,
Marco

Launch Services has always been a bit..."strange"
Why not compress the MS 2011 PP (right click it to bring up finder's contextual menu and select compress) into a zip file. Trash the uncompressed file (see below). And then launch services hopefully won't have any choice but to select and use MS 2008 PP.
Before you delete the original in the trash. Double click the zip file to expand it back to another copy of 2011 PP. Make sure that launches properly. This is just an extra safety (paranoid) check to make sure the original zipped correctly. Then you can also trash this second copy as well.

Do I have to change file associations in Windows 7 one at a time?

I changed my ancient Paint Shop Pro for Elements 11 but the file associations are still PSP. I can change them one at a time but that will take forever! Is there a way to associate all the appropriate files in one go? I managed it many years ago in PSP and Windows XP but have no idea how; I'm hoping someone will know. Thank you.

ok.
You can add to this menu.
See this, method 2:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/126340-open-add-program.html

Changing file associations for Stuffit

Soooo, I tried opening a BIN file using Stuffit Expander (well, indirectly using it by opening the file from Firefox), but because the VLC Media Player has changed the file associations so that by default it opens them, I can't open it (and for the record, the BIN file in question is the install file for AIM, direct from the AIM website...I'm downloading it as a backup for file transfers). Because Stuffit seems to be integrated within the kernel (as opposed to being a separate program), I can't go about changing the file associations the normal way. Is there a way for me to do it without uninstalling VLC?

Stuffit Expander is a separate program. You can get it here.

Change file association

Hi,
Does anyone know how to globally change the file association of a file type.
I work with Adobe Flash which uses actionscript (.as) files (text files). I've recently started using Eclipse which is a Java IDE and an actionscript plugin (FDT).
For some reasons it's saving out my .as files as something different. They still work within Flash but not with Apple's quicklook...
In the terminal I've noticed that 'file' returns 'Java program text'.
eg.
$ file Main.as
Main.as: UTF-8 Unicode Java program text, with CR line terminators
This is the same within all user accounts on my machine... however on another another Macbook it returns,
UTF-8 Unicode English text, with CR line terminators
Any idea how I can convert all my .as files to 'English text' so that they work with Quicklook.
TIA

Sorry I misunderstood your question earlier.
I did a little research into how QuickLook works. Different file types are handled by "qlgenerator" files (which are actually packages). You can install new ones in /System/Library/QuickLook or /System/QuickLook. The default ones live in /System/Library/Frameworks/QuickLook.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Generators .
Each qlgenerator contains an info.plist file that appears to define which file types it handles in the CFBundleDocumentTypes property. I'm not sure what format they're in, though, because they look like "com.apple.rtfd" and "com.microsoft.word.doc".
Text.qlgenerator is the one that handles text files and others that TextEdit can view (such as rtf and doc). I bet you could make a copy of it into System/Library/QuickLook and edit its info.plist file to handle your file type(s).

Can't change file associations

I can't seem to change the file associations for quicktime. The checkboxes are greyed out so I can't deselect them.
I have tried un-installing and re-installing both quicktime itself and itunes but am not asked which files to associate during installation of either. I have also tried un-installing and running the windows cleanup utility but it doesn't show any quicktime entry and when I re-install the file types are still greyed out.
Anyone got any ideas.

This could be caused by damaged QuickTime preference files (or possibly a permissions problem on the preferences files).
We can try rebuilding one set of your preference files to see if that helps with the greyed-out stuff.
First, quit QuickTime if you have it open.
Next, you'll need to make sure you are set up to view hidden files and folders in Vista (or 7).
1. From the Start menu, click Open.
2. In the Organize menu, click Folder and Search Options.
3. Click the View tab.
4. In the "Advanced settings" pane under "Hidden files and folders" make sure that the "Show hidden files and folders" option is selected.
5. Click OK.
Next, you'll remove the QuickTime preference folder (and contained file).
6. In Computer, open Local Disk: C or whichever drive your documents are stored on.
7. Open the Users folder.
8. Open the folder with the name of the Windows 7 user account in which the QuickTime file types are "greyed out".
9. Open the AppData folder.
10. Open the Local folder.
11. Open the Apple Computer folder.
12. Drag the QuickTime folder out onto the Desktop.
Now you'll rebuild the preference folder and file.
13. Launch QuickTime. Check your file types again.
Are they still greyed out, or can you change them now?

Can not change file names in finder

Several times over the past week I have not been able to change existing file names in Finder. The mouse moves normally and can highlight the name, but the keyboard instructions, including "delete" or typing, does not result in any response. All other programs continue to function normally.
Restarting the computer solved the issue for a while, but it happened again.
Reading over the previous posts, none of them apply (I do not have those programs).
Any idea why this happens and how do I fix it?

This same thing happens occasionally (or maybe rarely is a better word) for different users here at my work.
I haven't had the problem myself, and thought it was gone now when everyone is running Mac OS 10.4.7 (we ran 10.4.5 just recently) but a user just got the problem 5 minutes ago. All apps except Finder respond to keystrokes.
Relaunching the Finder using "Force Quit..." from the Apple solves it, but I guess sooner or later the problem will come back.
Would be great to know what's causing it.

Can't change file association for Office

Hi
I've previously gone to Apple Support without success on this - so I hope it's not too obvious a question!
I'm running Office v.X on my new Macbook, having previously uninstalled the demo for Office 2004 from the machine. However, when I save Word files emailed over to me they are associated with the non-existent 2004 version of Word (11.2.0) and consequently I can't open them from the Finder (gives error -10660 as it can't find this application).
While I can change my Word files individually to point at the v.X version of Word that's actually running on the Macbook, if I click Change All from within the Get Info... box then the application in Open with... reverts back to 2004 Word! This makes it impossible for me to universally associate my Word documents with Word v.X. Grrrr.
Apple have suggest that the Finder is picking up that Office 2004 is still the default application. However I ran the uninstall utility and there's nothing obvious in the Library/Receipts folder - where apparently you'd expect this to be set.
Any ideas as it's really irritating?! Please keep it reasonably simple for me
Many thanks
marc
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Hi, Marc.
I presume you've uninstalled the Office 2004 demo completely.
See my "Resetting Launch Services" FAQ.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Changing file associations doesn't work after CS4 install

I am running into an issue on any machine I install CS4 on in which I would like (for the time being) to keep CS2 or CS3 on whereby the Open with in get info always defaults to the particular CS4 app, no matter if I set it to CS2/CS3 and hit change all. You can do an individual file and set the .indd file to open in ID CS2, but if you try to force a change all to default any .indd file to open with ID CS2, it reverts automatically back to ID CS4.
I have tried this on various workstations with differing OS's, Tiger, Leopard, and all yield the same result. It is like no matter what you do all the CS4 apps have precedence for whatever reason and cannot be universally overridden. Any ideas or others that have run into this?
I have use Onyx to clean up the Launchservice databases and to clean up associations, have thrown out some plists, etc. and nothing is working.
Any help would be appreciated.
Brian

Thanks, Bob. I will take a look at, but it might not be exactly what I was hoping for as I was hoping to avoid the user from having to drag files onto something just to open them up.
Any ideas why CS4 overrides the ability to globally set the Open with to CS2 or CS3 but you still can on just one document?
Odd behavior.
Brian

How to change file preview in Finder?

So I just finished my latest short film, and I exported it to Finder. However I don't like the preview Finder chose for my video, it simply chose a random frame from my video and made that the preview of the file. I have a custom poster I made for the video I would like to make the preview of the file. I've look at other websites and they all mistook "preview" for icons. I am not talking about the icon of the file, I am talking about the actual preview of the file. If you open the Info pane of an image or a video file, there will be a tab under "Open With" named "Preview" and shows the preview thumbnail for the file. Can anyone tell me how I can manually change the preview of a file? I thought about importing the video into iTunes, change the cover art and take it out again, however because the file is encoded with Apple ProRes 4444 iTunes won't accept it and even if it did it would have been converted to other format, which is something I am trying to avoid and I would like to keep it ProRes 4444.

Hi!
I'm not sure how to change the preveiw icon, but if you're just looking for a quick way to change the icon preview of that particular file you could always change the the icon from the finder get info window:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2493
Hope this gives you a temporary solution until you find what you're looking for.

How can I change file association

How can I make .mp*g files open using the Windows Media Player Plugin as opposed to the QuickTime Plugin as used by .wmv files?
Both are installed.
I've tried Tools | Options | Applications, but WMP Plugin is not available as an option against .mp*g files and I can't find the plugin in to browse to it to make the change.

I tried that before posting, but WMP Plugin is not listed as an alternative option for .mp*g files, and when I try 'Use other' WMP Plugin is not listed.
WMP is listed but my undestanding is that this would cause the file to launch and play in WMP, whereas I want it to play in FireFox in the WMP Plugin.
So where do I 'Browse' to to make the change?

Changing File Association to Applescript App

Hello,
I wrote an applescript application that I can use to launch Final Cut Pro (the script displays a message that I want the users to read while FCP is being opened). It works great!
I tried to associate all my Final Cut Pro files (.fcp) with my applescript application and that doesn't work! It works for a single file, but the moment I click on change all (command+i ->open with->change all) it reverts back to Final Cut Pro. I tried repairing permissions. I tried using RCDefaultApp - that didn't work either.
Just as a test, I wrote an applescript application that just opens textedit and tried to associate all my .txt files to my application and I had the same issue.
I would really appreciate any help on this. Thanks!

This happens because all AppleScript applications (at least those saved via the Script Editor) have the same application signature.
In order to do this you need to use AppleScript Studio to create a document-based application and define a unique application signature. You then associate Final Cut Pro documents with your application's signature so that the OS will launch your app instead of FCP.
You may be able to hack it by playing with the resources in the AppleScript app bundle but it's probably easier to do in AppleScript Studio.

Changing File Associations

I associated the file type "ASPX" with Mozilla Firefox and accidentally checked "always launch Firefox" for this file type. As a result, whenever I load an ASPX page, Firefox opens a new window and seems to get in a recursive loop, opening window after window.
How do I disassociate this file type with Firefox, essentially undoing my mistake?

just delete the association from within FireFox's preferences.

Changing file associations in finder

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for