Contextual menu help!

Hi
When I right click on a file to bring up 'open with' options, the list shows duplicates of all the applications thet will open the file. This is most annoying!
How can I fix this?
Phil

Hi Phil
See Dr. Smoke's Resetting Launch Services FAQ.
Matthew Whiting

Similar Messages

Can't access in Finder Contextual Menu the sub-menu named More

Hi!
I was trying to learn how to use Automator, in the web page
http://www.macosxautomation.com/automator/examples/ex03/index.html
and I realize that I can't access in Finder Contextual Menu the sub-menu named More for choose Automator > Create Workflow... from the sub-menu.
Someone can help me to configure the finder in order to

That page is out of date since it doesn't reflect the change in Snow Leopard that did away with the More contextual menu. Try this. System Preferences->Keyboard->Keyboard Shortcuts->Services->Development->enable Create Workflow. Close the prefPane, select the object, CONTROL-click->Services->Create Workflow.
If that solves your issue, then send a message to the page's developer and ask them to update it.
BTW, see http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2241804 for a four-parter by Sal Saghoian on *Automation in Snow Leopard*
and this, which describes the old and new automator—services stuff:
http://www.reynoldsftw.com/2009/08/automator-and-finder-interactions-in-os-x-10- 6/

No "decrypt" choice in contextual menu - need to decrypt an encrypted external hard drive

I have a Firewire 800 external hard drive that I had previously encrypted using the contextual menu. I want to change the password on this drive so I'm trying to decrypt it and re-encrypt it while assigned a new password. I have Filevault 2 enabled on my iMac but this shouldn't affect this external drive. I also have a Firmware Password enabled on this iMac, but again, this shouldn't prevent a "decrypt" option in the contextual menu.
"Encrypt" is present in the contextual menu. When I attempt to use this option it appears to allow me to assign a new password. When I click "Encrypt" I get this message: "The target Core Storage volume is already encrypted." It's true that the drive is already encrypted, that's why I'm trying to decrypt it.
I'm running the latest version of Mountain Lion on a late 2012 iMac. I've searched online for someone with a similar problem, but haven't found this problem reference. Does anyone have any idea as to why "decrypt" is not an option on this external drive, but it is on similar external drives that are also already encrypted. Thanks.

Thanks for your help, Linc. By the way, I mistakenly said I had Filevault and Firmware turned on. Actually, they are NOT enabled on the iMac. Here's what I got in my Text Edit window:
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         121.0 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         999.3 GB   disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s3
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *1.1 TB     disk2
/dev/disk3
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *750.2 GB   disk3
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk3s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage OWC 750 GB Archive      749.8 GB   disk3s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk3s3
/dev/disk4
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk4
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk4s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         499.8 GB   disk4s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk4s3
/dev/disk5
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS OWC 500 GB             *499.4 GB   disk5
/dev/disk6
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk6
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk6s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         2.0 TB     disk6s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk6s3
/dev/disk7
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS LaCie Porsche 2TB T... *2.0 TB     disk7
/dev/disk8
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS OWC 750 GB Archive     *749.5 GB   disk8
CoreStorage logical volume groups (4 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 77833580-B5D6-4969-90F2-69629D851399
|   =========================================================
|   Name:         Macintosh HD
|   Status:       Online
|   Size:         1120333979648 B (1.1 TB)
|   Free Space:   114688 B (114.7 KB)
|   |
|   +-< Physical Volume 92948041-5F99-48EE-BA6A-AC5E2D801AA1
|   |   ----------------------------------------------------
|   |   Index:    0
|   |   Disk:     disk0s2
|   |   Status:   Online
|   |   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)
|   |
|   +-< Physical Volume 2AFC48E4-8F84-4353-B5BE-80F82FCC5E60
|   |   ----------------------------------------------------
|   |   Index:    1
|   |   Disk:     disk1s2
|   |   Status:   Online
|   |   Size:     999345127424 B (999.3 GB)
|   |
|   +-> Logical Volume Family 9896E84D-A633-4439-9230-E793C140F99F
|       ----------------------------------------------------------
|       Encryption Status:       Unlocked
|       Encryption Type:         None
|       Conversion Status:       NoConversion
|       Conversion Direction:    -none-
|       Has Encrypted Extents:   No
|       Fully Secure:            No
|       Passphrase Required:     No
|       |
|       +-> Logical Volume 73192A6E-2FD8-48C2-9586-DF06DEAF832C
|           ---------------------------------------------------
|           Disk:               disk2
|           Status:             Online
|           Size (Total):       1111826497536 B (1.1 TB)
|           Size (Converted):   -none-
|           Revertible:         No
|           LV Name:            Macintosh HD
|           Volume Name:        Macintosh HD
|           Content Hint:       Apple_HFS
|
+-- Logical Volume Group D3A1E4E0-2FAB-4620-9E30-A52F1D8967EA
|   =========================================================
|   Name:         LaCie Porsche 2TB Time Machine
|   Status:       Online
|   Size:         2000054960128 B (2.0 TB)
|   Free Space:   16777216 B (16.8 MB)
|   |
|   +-< Physical Volume 5616866C-0E7B-4CFB-9ADF-F8B3C6D558A2
|   |   ----------------------------------------------------
|   |   Index:    0
|   |   Disk:     disk6s2
|   |   Status:   Online
|   |   Size:     2000054960128 B (2.0 TB)
|   |
|   +-> Logical Volume Family 88D4CB4E-CD4B-4DEF-87FF-2C6C0C7FFF48
|       ----------------------------------------------------------
|       Encryption Status:       Unlocked
|       Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
|       Conversion Status:       Complete
|       Conversion Direction:    -none-
|       Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
|       Fully Secure:            Yes
|       Passphrase Required:     Yes
|       |
|       +-> Logical Volume C207E3E4-B7A5-4440-A786-34251950978C
|           ---------------------------------------------------
|           Disk:               disk7
|           Status:             Online
|           Size (Total):       1999719411712 B (2.0 TB)
|           Size (Converted):   -none-
|           Revertible:         Yes (unlock and decryption required)
|           LV Name:            LaCie Porsche 2TB Time Machine
|           Volume Name:        LaCie Porsche 2TB Time Machine
|           Content Hint:       Apple_HFS
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 1D616DCF-5201-4DF4-AF4F-4D8574ADA3AF
|   =========================================================
|   Name:         OWC 750 GB Archive
|   Status:       Online
|   Size:         749812400128 B (749.8 GB)
|   Free Space:   16777216 B (16.8 MB)
|   |
|   +-< Physical Volume 67B9DE8F-CEB9-47E7-92AD-9C0F2D02ED66
|   |   ----------------------------------------------------
|   |   Index:    0
|   |   Disk:     disk3s2
|   |   Status:   Online
|   |   Size:     749812400128 B (749.8 GB)
|   |
|   +-> Logical Volume Family 84C4B3C3-63DE-4487-A285-79733D638B14
|       ----------------------------------------------------------
|       Encryption Status:       Unlocked
|       Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
|       Conversion Status:       Complete
|       Conversion Direction:    -none-
|       Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
|       Fully Secure:            Yes
|       Passphrase Required:     Yes
|       |
|       +-> Logical Volume 9B356069-1F11-44B5-A419-D395B9E5D9F6
|           ---------------------------------------------------
|           Disk:               disk8
|           Status:             Online
|           Size (Total):       749476851712 B (749.5 GB)
|           Size (Converted):   749476851712 B (749.5 GB)
|           Revertible:         Yes (unlock and decryption required)
|           LV Name:            OWC 750 GB Archive
|           Volume Name:        OWC 750 GB Archive
|           Content Hint:       Apple_HFS
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 9FD47542-59CC-4A5F-B2D6-4D58B15F4DEC
    =========================================================
    Name:         OWC 500 GB
    Status:       Online
    Size:         499763888128 B (499.8 GB)
    Free Space:   16777216 B (16.8 MB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume A52C4498-4C0A-47FB-A8AD-A16F1A1FAAA5
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk4s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     499763888128 B (499.8 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family 9C908835-59DB-4B08-AF44-E85E05135A37
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         None
        Conversion Status:       Converting
        Conversion Direction:    backward
        Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
        Fully Secure:            No
        Passphrase Required:     No
        |
        +-> Logical Volume 79B8EE82-FCD9-4EDC-A7D7-C321A7CED24B
            Disk:               disk5
            Status:             Online
            Size (Total):       499428339712 B (499.4 GB)
            Size (Converted):   333646397440 B (333.6 GB)
            Revertible:         Yes (unlock and decryption required)
            LV Name:            OWC 500 GB
            Volume Name:        OWC 500 GB
            Content Hint:       Apple_HFS

Multiple entries for same apps showing next to 'Open With' in contextual menu since last backup

I did a back up of my MBPs internal drive recently, using Carbon Copy Cloner - since then there are multiples of the same icons for all apps under 'Open With' in the contextual menu. I seem to remember there being a command line that could be entered in Terminal to fix this, but I can't find it anywhere.
Can anyone help?

Yes, LaunchServices. These are only cache files but can get corrupted. Launch /Utilities/Terminal and copy & paste this at the command line to rebuild LaunchServices: (be sure to copy the entire line it's a scroll)
Code:
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
Then press return. Wait until terminal returns to the command line. Quit Terminal. After that, log out and back in or restart. Let us know

Contextual Menu Plug-in for Finder in Snow Leopard

I have Contextual Menu Plug-in for Finder which works with my application, but it doesn't work in Snow Leopard. I read that plugins are not supported in 64bit environment. There is still Menus.h file with CFPlugin interface in 10.6 SDK, but my plugin not loaded by Finder even it is compiled for x86_64.
I read about revamped Services that they should be used, but I didn't find a clue how to create dynamic menu with tree of items.
I need to communicate with another application which runs on background and creates menu items in dependency of selected items, their path and other conditions.
Application is written in Java and CMPlugin (which doesn't work in 10.6) is in C++.
Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

Hi
Guys, any suggestion?

Since installing Lion, no Finder window will open on the desktop. I can see them through "Quick Look" and "View all Windows" in the contextual menu for Finder in the

Since installing Lion, no Finder window will open on the desktop. I can see them through "Quick Look" and "View all Windows" in the contextual menu for Finder in the dock.

Help please!

Japanese or Chinese characters showing up in contextual menu (right click)

Whenever I right click inside a Firefox (v 3.6.17) window, there are three (3) menu picks at the very bottom of the contextual menu that are displayed in either Japanese or Chinese characters. How do I fix this?
Thanks in advance for any help!

Start Firefox in <u>[[Safe Mode]]</u> to check if one of the extensions is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox (Tools) > Add-ons > Appearance/Themes).
* Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.
* https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+Mode
* [[Troubleshooting extensions and themes]]

Graph contextual menu question

This is probably basic, but I am trying to understand how Graph contextual menus function.
In a typical XY Graph, we have the option to modify the (runtime) contextual menu, which is something I am increasingly doing to extend the functionality of that object. For instance I increasingly use a "Delete Plot" or "Paste Plot" (and probably should replace the "Export Data to Clipoard" by a "Copy Plot" item, now that I think of it...).
Anyhow, this contextual menu is available when I right-click on:
- the Plot area
- the Graph Palette
- the Scale Legend
- the Plot Legend (except for the Plot Style region).
- the Cursor Keypad thingy
but not when I click on:
- the Cursor Legend
- the Plot Style regions of the Plot Legend
In the latter two cases, a specific runtime menu pops-up.
This makes perfect sense (well, not exactly: why does the Keypad thingy give me access to a Plot contextual menu? Likewise for the Graph Palette?) but like we may want to modify the Graph runtime menu proper, we may (we do!) want to modify the runtime menu for the the two outliers above.
Why can't we?

X,
I believe this is due to the properties being separate objects, as such they do not have access to each others properties. I found another forum post where a workaround is described.
http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/How-to-customize-the-context-menu-in-the-plot-legend-of-the/td-p/209...
If there is anything else we can help with let us know,
J Newk
Systems Engineer
National Instruments

Open with contextual menu

My problem: When i select/highlight "Open with" option in the Finder Contextual Menu, then Finder quits. i.e. the open with menu doesn't even expand- just highlighting/hovering the cursor over it, causes Finder to crash.
This has been happening for quite some time.
Any help appreciated.
Thanks in advance
mac mini Mac OS X (10.4.9) 1.42 GHz, 512 MB RAM

The free Expander shouldn't have installed any contextual menu items. Look in the "Contextual Menu Items" folders in your "Library" folder, and in the one in "Library" at the top level of your disk. If there are any files there, try moving them out, then logout, then login, and see if you still have problems.

"Open with ... other" Finder contextual menu

Hi, I am facing a curious situation in my SL 10.6.8 machine, when using the "Open with ... other" Finder contextual menu.
When I'm logged with any user account except one, the menu item behaves normally : it creates an "Open window" pointing to the /Applications folder of the machine and the window seems to be a normal one.
But when I'm logged with a specific user account, the menu item creates an "Open window" pointing to the /Documents folder of the user account instead of the /Applications folder of the machine. So I need to manually navigate to the /Applications folder to choose the application to launch.
Of course, I may create a new account, transfer my files to this new account, delete the current one and explain to Time Machine that the new account is the same as the old one. But I don't want to waste my time with this basic solution. So, I'm looking for a better one. But, at this time, I failed to find the way the "Open with ... other" Finder contextual menu knows where to open the "Open window".
Any suggestion will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance

Hello linda2009
1) I bought my first Default Folder licence in 2002. I upgraded to Default Folder X in 2003. I have a very good opinion of this product, and I recommend it to my friends when they decide to switch to Mac.
2) My Macs are configured with many accounts, one which is admin (and the only admin) of the machine, the others which are non-admin users.
3) The incident I described in my first post occurred only when logged in one of the non-admin accounts.
4) To solve the incident, I did not deinstall the product, but only deactivate it when logged in the specific account showing the problem, delete the preference files of this account, and reactivate the product always logged in the same account. Of course, as the licence key was stored in one of the files I deleted, I had to register it again.
So, the incident did not change my mind about the product. I suggest you try it. It's free for 30 days.
Hope this will help you.

Clean up Finder "Open With" contextual menu in Yosemite

How do I clean up the Finder "Open With" contextual menu in Yosemite? I have several duplicate and obsolete entries in mine. There are several articles out there that show how to do this for previous versions of Mac OS X, but the instructions don't line up with what I see in Yosemite.
Also, the entries I have in the menu are from a version of Windows through a version of VMware Fusion, both of which versions I haven't used in a long while. I did a clean install of Yosemite this morning (on an erased disk) so I'm curious how the menu was populated. Did it somehow get inherited through the iCloud Keychain?
Thanks for any help!

As seen here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305627
*Mac OS X: Clearing the Finder "Open With" contextual menu*
Ever wondered how to "clear" the Finder's Open With... contextual menu choices of any extraneous or older applications? (This is the menu that appears when you control-click or "right-click" a document icon.)
If your Open With... menu is filled with too many choices to easily scroll through, you can remove the less-commonly used choices. These steps will clear the list except for the most current applications that can open your document.
From the Finder Go menu, choose Home.
Open the Library folder in the Home window.
Open the Preferences folder.
Find com.apple.LaunchServices.plist.
Rename "com.apple.LaunchServices", such as to "com.apple.LaunchServices.old", or move it to the Trash.
The next time you use the Open With.... contextual menu in the Finder, only current applications will be listed. Some items may return if the application that controls them adds itself back to the list.

Can't open apps with contextual menu, or dragging onto dock icon

I've recently reinstalled Tiger and updated successfully with the 10.4.11 combo installer.
I've discovered that when, for example, I use the contextual menu to open a jpeg with Photoshop CS, nothing happens. If I try to drag it onto the Photoshop icon in the dock, the app will open but the file won't.
Double clicking the file opens it in Preview (default), but I sometimes want to do more than view it in preview - I want to edit it in PS. I can only open it from within PS. Also, when using Iphoto, even when I select external editor it won't open in Photoshop.
This is a new quirk and I've never had the problem before. I'd appreciate any suggestions of how I can solve this. Many thanks, Karen

Before I start trashing things, just to play it safe ... what are the consequences/downside of getting rid of those folders?
Just move them to the Desktop incase we need for some unknown reasin to put them back.
Should I just move them out one by one to see if I can isolate the problem?
Yes, you could do that, but... I think some prefs help rebuilding other prefs if present.
I have created a new "test user" - I guess I should log out/log in to see if the problem is still there before doing any throwing away of prefs, right?
Yep!

No Magic Trackpad taps, clicks, or combination will get me the contextual menu since I upgraded to Lion. I want to kill it.

In Snow Leopard, the magic trackpad was a thing of beauty. tap to click, swipe with three fingers to navigate, two finger tap for contextual menu. Horizontal scrolling just an evil threat, easily opted out of.
Now that I've upgraded, well, three fingers will still navigate me around Safari. And I was able to correct the truly disorienting "natural scrolling" and get the words moving back the right way again. But no matter what I do, or what I select in Preferences, I have no more right-click equivalent. I've tried deselecting and reselecting, changing the number of fingers, choosing a bottom corner click option... still no contextual menu. Instead, I get the dashboard widgets. 2 finger tap: dashboard widgets. bottom right, or left, click: dashboard widgets.
I've tried a fix some folks have posted that involves adding a line in Terminal (defaults -currentHost write -g com.apple.trackpuad.enableSecondaryClick -bool YES) and then logging out and in. Many have had success with that. I have not.
As far as I can tell, I have now far fewer options and less flexibility with the trackpad in Lion than I did in Snow Leopard. More animation to tell me about them, but less functionality. That said, I'm guessing there's a bug here. Can anyone help me fix this thing? Bonus extra points if someone can tell me how to un-choose horizontal scrolling!

So, Darrall, it seems to be fixed. Mind you, this has happened through a seemingly unrelated, but hopefully replicable sequence of events. You be the judge.
I went to my other login account, which as it happens is also an admin account. Voila, the secondary click worked fine. So I returned to my primary account, where I did the following:
First, I unpaired the trackpad. then I remembered I needed something to move the mouse with, so I re-paired the magic mouse I'd had before. I thought I'd turned off the trackpad, but apparently not, so the computer re-paired it automatically. None of this had any immediate effect, as you'd imagine.
Then I went to Mission Control in Preferences. There, I deselected "Show dashboard as a space", and in the hotcorners, I deselected Mission Control from the bottom left, where it had been. I didn't replace it.
Now, my secondary click works. Uh huh. I was suspicious that it might have more to do with Mission Control and/or Dashboard than the trackpad, only because I'd beaten that horse till my arm hurt and this was all I could think of.
Never did I imagine this would get fixed short of creating a new login account and somehow copying everything - since I didn't know what was wrong, I could easily have copied the error too - so I'm very pleased and relieved. If you haven't fixed yours yet, try this. Let me know what happens!

Contextual menu items

Hi,
I have iMac with most recent version of Mac OS X (Lion). I am looking to see if there is a 3rd party program to modify the contextual menu(when you right click) to provide additonal functionality.
Does anyone have a utility to do this?
Thanks and I look forward to your reply.
...Bruce

This might help with some information you need to write your own services. It is written for Snow Leopard but the process should work for Lion as well http://www.atpm.com/16.01/services.shtml

Can one disable the contextual menu triggered by a control+click?

Folks,
As stated here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1520841
Is there any way to disable the contextual menu triggered by a control+click? I'm using Firefox with a web application and I would like to be able to select non-contiguous rows in a table. This is done by selecting records while holding the control key.
Any help is appreciated.
-y

yc115 wrote:
Folks,
As stated here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1520841
Is there any way to disable the contextual menu triggered by a control+click? I'm using Firefox with a web application and I would like to be able to select non-contiguous rows in a table. This is done by selecting records while holding the control key.
Any help is appreciated.
-y
I regularly use Firefox in order to select and download multiple items. I use the Cmd key to select a group by dragging the mouse over them with the left button down, and then holding down Cmd key and using the left mouse button, I can then select additional elements, only one-at-a-time, but not a second group.

Contextual menu help!

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