Changing "open with"

Hi,
I am looking for a fast way to change the application for opening a specific file. Every time I save a file in Acrobat the "open with" application resets to preview - so i want to create a droplet that changes the application only for this scecific file.
Do anyone know, if I can do this with applescript and tell me how?
Thanks, Karsten
P.S.: Im german - so sorry for my bad englisch.

Hi,
Sometime ago, you set all pdfs to open with Preview. So now, this is over riding the creator type given by Acrobat. It's difficult to create a script to change the "open with", because you need to create and add to a resource fork.
Here's what you can do. Modify the com.apple.LaunchServices file in your Preferences folder. You open it up in TextEdit and part of it will look like this:
<key>E:mtr</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>LSBundleLocator</key>
<data>
AAAAAACsAAMAAAAAv5rMOAAASCsAAAAAAAIC4QAVrMEA
AME1DTYAAAAAASD//kFQUExNeVRy/////wABAAwAAgLh
AAIC1gAAIiYADgAWAAoAVABlAHgAdABSAHUAbgBuAGUA
cgAPABoADABNAGEAYwBpAG4AdABvAHMAaAAgAEgARAAS
ABxVc2Vycy9rZWwvRGVza3RvcC9UZXh0UnVubmVyABMA
AS8A//8AAA==
</data>
<key>LSBundleRoleMask</key>
<integer>-1</integer>
<key>LSBundleSignature</key>
<string>dplt</string>
</dict>
</array>
except that, instead of the key mtr it will say pdf. You delete this whole section including the array part. You then save the changes to the file. After you do this, your machine will be back to how it was where Preview was the default app and creator types work. Now Acrobat files will open with Acrobat.
Say you save a file as pdf through the print dialog's "Save as pdf". This will open with Preview. If you want a script to change that file to open with Acrobat, then you can just give it a creator type. Here's an example droplet:
on open these_files
repeat with this_file in these_files
tell application "Finder" to ¬
set creator type of this_file to "CARO"
end repeat
end open
This now works because it isn't being overridden by LaunchServices.
Be careful with the preference file. You don't want to corrupt it.
gl,

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How to change "Open With" Settings

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I've already made the CorelDRAW files easily searchable through Spotlight by inserting metadata, but I was just wondering if there was a way to tell OS X that these aren't disc images, but CorelDRAW files and have them open in Illustrator by default. If there isn't oh well.

How to change "open with" defaults via command line?!?

folks,
i know that if i get info on a file -- in this case, a filemaker 5.5 file -- i can choose the default "open with" settings and apply those settings to all files of that kind. see the attached image for what i mean.
but how do i do that via the command line?
thus far, here's what i've got: i know that i can open a document called "scrubbing shell.sh" on my desktop WITH either MS Word of TextEdit by calling:
open -a textedit /Users/david/Desktop/scrubbing-shell.sh
or
open -a Microsoft\ Word /Users/david/Desktop/scrubbing-shell.sh
no sweat. BUT....how do i set the defaults so that it ALWAYS opens with that app in the future when double-clicking via the GUI?
many thanks, ya'll!
david koff
associate systems admin
the j. paul getty trust
dkoff AT getty DOT edu

Hi David,
   OK, I investigated the new format and treatment. It appears that the first entry in the property list file that matches the file being opened wins. The Finder may still honor the new format; when I moved my old Panther file into Tiger it seemed to work. However, in other ways, the Finder doesn't recognize the old format, which is the format of the FileMaker entries you posted.
   The Finder puts all of the new format entries at the beginning of the property list file. If you change a preference that was controlled by an old format entry, the Finder won't edit that entry. What it will do is to create a new entry in the new format closer to the beginning of the file than any of the old-format entries. SInce the new entry comes first, the old one doesn't apply. If you then edit the preference and change it back to what it was before, the Finder will edit the new entry. Consider the following sequence of events and commands:
% cp ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices_copy.plist
I change all GIF files to be opened by GraphicConverter instead of Preview, which is an old setting in the old format.
% plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist
% diff --text ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices_copy.plist
404,409d403
<      <dict>
<         <key>LSHandlerContentType</key>
<         <string>com.compuserve.gif</string>
<         <key>LSHandlerRoleAll</key>
<         <string>com.lemkesoft.graphicconverter</string>
<      </dict>
Then I change all the GIF files to be opened by Preview again.
% plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist
% cp ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices_copy2.plist
% diff --text ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices_copy.plist
404,409d403
<       <dict>
<          <key>LSHandlerContentType</key>
<          <string>com.compuserve.gif</string>
<          <key>LSHandlerRoleAll</key>
<          <string>com.apple.preview</string>
<       </dict>
% diff --text ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices_copy2.plist
408c408
<          <string>com.apple.preview</string>
          <string>com.lemkesoft.graphicconverter</string>
   Note that I had to change the file to text after every change because the Finder converted the file to binary format every time it edited it. I didn't have to logout or reboot; the property list file change less than a second after the preference was set. I'm guessing that because you were just looking at the old-format entry, you missed the real changes to your property list file. Did it change from text to binary format? Try the command line tools that I used above.
   Note that this means that it matters where you put your entries in the property list file if you edit it.
Gary
~~~~
   There are only 10 kinds of people in the world. Those
   who understand binary numbers and those who don't.

Cannot change "Open with" (in context menu) from CS3 to CS6

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Note:
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The file "Open With" option for pdf files was changed by MS Office to open all files with Outlook (it was an operator error - mine ) but my problem is that I can't change it back. The image on the icon shows office and not the standard pdf file icon. I tried several ways into the Open With option setting and nothing works. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Acrobat reader to see if that would allow me to reset to the default but no help. I can open the files individually by clicking on the icon and selecting OpenWith Acrobat but I would like to be able to ID pdf's and make Acrobat the default for the files.
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I'm running windows 7 home pro and I tried the settings for configuring file
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How to change "Open With" list?

Hi,
I have a file extension for my source files which is PRG. So I have main.prg, test.prg, etc..
Now, how can I change the default application that opens all files with that extension? I already tried "Open With" -> "Other.." -> Selct a application, click the "Always open with" checkbox, but finder still keeps opening my PRG files with the standard application..
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Tx!
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xHarbour.com Inc.
http://www.xHarbour.com
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Changing Open With Default App Won't Stick...

I have a couple of versions of the same app installed and I need the older version of the app to be the default app that globally opens whenever I double-click one of its files.
I've tried the Get Info -> Open With -> Select App ->Change All procedure but after clicking the Change All button, it immediately reverts back to the newer version of the application.
I need to be able to support both versions of the app. I've tried downloading RCDefaultApp but that didn't help. Moving the newer version app to another partition is not option. Re-installing the newer version of the app onto another partition is not an option either.
I would be grateful for any suggestions
Thanks,
Jon
Message was edited by: Jon Morgan1

The two Get Info options seem to use different methods to select the application. The 'Open with:' changes the Finder's default application property, but it looks like the 'Change All…' button uses the file type identifier to find the default application. Since the file type identifier is usually the same for all versions, the latest version is apparently the one that gets used. You should be able to select the older version on a file-by-file basis, or use the file inspector to change multiple documents. An AppleScript could also be used, perhaps a folder action to change the default application for files dropped into a folder.

Change Open With for all files with a specific extension

Hi, I've been using OS X for quite some time, but more recently cannot see how you do the following which is proving frustrating:
* Open Get Info for a file,
* Use the drop down under Open With to choose Other,
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* Press the Change All button and the drop down turns back to Excel which was the previous default.
So basically, how do I change all files with CSV extension to Smultron when Smultron wasn't in the list of Open With items and I have to use Other from the list. This is repeatable for any file type with any application that isn't listed and is on both my iMac and my work's MacBook. Try it yourself and you'll see what I mean!!
Thanks

Stuart Mchattie wrote:
Thanks NeroWolf,
Your solution does work for that single file, but doesn't change the system wide association of that file extension with a particular application. It is because this works that I believe the problem I am having is uncircumventable and is in fact a bug in the OS. Could anyone else confirm this?
Cheers,
Stuart
It might be a bug. What I found is that the icon does not change unless I log out/in or reboot, even when the app normally puts an icon on the file.
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Message was edited by: nerowolfe

How to change "Open With" default

When one has, say, a .tiff image stored in the Documents folder how does one change the "open with" default? For instance, if Photoshop is given as the default, how does one change this to Preview?

HI,
Right or control click the file, then click Get Info. Click the Open With discovery triangle and select the application you want to open that file with. You may have to click Other and navigate to the Applications folder to select the app, ie., Preview.
http://www.ehow.com/how4548206quick-change-files-default-application.html
Carolyn
Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

Can't change "Open with" for multiple files

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Any insights? I've repaired disk permissions by the way.
Dan P.

This is sometimes a problem with the launchservices database. You can try the following to fix it:
Rebuild LaunchServices Database
For Tiger users
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt paste in the following command in its entirety:
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServic es.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
Press RETURN.
For Leopard users
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt paste in the following command in its entirety:
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchSe rvices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
Press RETURN.
If this isn't successful then there may be other problems involved. You can try this:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
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Can you change "Open With" List TITLES?

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Anyone know how to change this mess?
Thanks!

Yay! I fixed it!
This is what I did: I went into Finder>Apps> Adobe CS4 (folder)> Right-Click on CS4.app> Show Package Contents> Contents> Open info.plist
Then 6-lines down it stated what was in the "open with" string, so I removed it, restarted, and Voilá!
Nice and clean.

How to arrange/change "open with..."?

I would like to know if its possible to change/or arrange (move up and down) your options of "open with" applications?...i know that you can select wether you want full list of aps, or recomended ones...

no, you can not manipulate that list manually. You can clean it up a little and get rid of some obsolete choices using the following terminal command
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchSe rvices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

I have to select a file – get Info – and change – open with and change from preview to another program and CHANGE ALL everytime I boot up

Why do I have to select a file – get Info – select – open with – and change from Preview to another program and click CHANGE ALL with every file extention everytime I boot up.

Back up all data.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.
Step 1
If you have more than one user account, and the one in question is not an administrator account, then temporarily promote it to administrator status in the Users & Groups preference pane. To do that, unlock the preference pane using the credentials of an administrator, check the box marked Allow user to administer this computer, then reboot. You can demote the problem account back to standard status when this step has been completed.
Triple-click the following line to select it. Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):
{ sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -Rh $UID:staff ~ $_ ; sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_ ; } 2> /dev/null
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2 (optional)
The first step should give you usable permissions in your home folder. This step will restore special attributes set by OS X on some user folders to protect them from unintended deletion or renaming. You can skip this step if you don't consider that protection to be necessary.
Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at startup. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select
Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open.
In the Terminal window, type this:
resetpassword
That's one word, all lower case, with no spaces. Then press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select
 ▹ Restart
from the menu bar.

Simple Question-How to change open with default

This should be a simple thing to do but the system preferences don't allow me to change it. I want to open jpegs with Preview and Photoshop is the default.
Besides,the system preferences is pretty lame to me. Very basic stuff. Can anyone help me with this?
Can I be notified by email? [email protected] Thanks!
Mike

Click once on a jpeg. Do a Get-Info, (command-I). In the drop down window Open with: select Preview. then select Change all.

Changing "open with"

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