Double-clicking on files doesn't open them

Just started today:
If I navigate to a file in the Finder and double-click on it, nothing happens. It doesn't open. If I open the application (e.g., MS Word) and go to the file menu and choose Open, navigate to the file, the file will open. But it happens in all applications, not just Word -- double-clicking on any file won't open the file in its parent application. It's like the link between files and apps has been lost.
I restarted the Finder twice, restarted the whole computer twice, repaired Permissions with Disk Utility -- nothing has helped. Still can't open files by double-clicking on them.
Am I missing something?
Tx,
WK

Kappy,
Followed these "Get Info" box instructions for two different files and their apps -- the correct apps were already listed as the Default, but I reselected them and "Changed All" again anyway. Still no change. Double-clicking on these docs in the Finder does not open files or the files creator Application. The only way I can still launch files and the proper App is through Control-click and "Open with" command.
I even deleted the com.apple.finder.plist and restarted, thinking the Finder prefs file might be corrupt, but still no change, so took the original plist file out of the Trash and put it back in the Library>Preferences folder and restarted again. No change.
THEN - a breakthrough. I checked the Keyboard/Mouse Prefs Pane and the double-click speed for the mouse was set completely to the right. I backed it off one "notch", went back to the Finder and double-clicked on a Word file and Voíla! -- the file and Word opened as it should.
Went back to the Mouse Prefs Pane and moved the Double-CLick Speed indicator all the way to the right again ("Fast") and went back to Finder and focused on double-clicking files as fast as I could and they opened fine.
SO -- I'm embarrassed to say that I just wasn't double-clicking fast enough. Not sure how the Speed indicator got moved so far to the right, but I have backed it off a notch to a normal double-click speed that I've used for years, and all seems to be working.
Thanks again for all your help -- I learned some good things about how to connect files and apps which will no doubt come in handy in the future.
Wk

Similar Messages

  • Double clicking on file doesn't open file in Photoshop

    I've tried all the well-known fixes for this and they don't work. I'm on a Power Mac G5, 2MHz, running OS X 10.4.11, and Photoshop CS. I've been through the fixes for "can't open in Photoshop from double clicking file on desktop"-reinstalling Photoshop, reinstalling, then trashing the new Photoshop, and physically moving "Adobe Unit Types" into the "Scripting Additions" folder. There was a time when that worked. not any more. What happens now is: I double click on a Photoshop Tiff file, never touched by Preview. Result: the OS opens the file in Preview. So I trash all copies of Preview. this is driving me crazy. Try again. The OS, this time, opens the file in Colorsync Utility! I've never heard of it. So I trash all copies of Colorsync Utility. Try it again. The OS opens the Photoshop file in Illustrator. It appears that no power on earth will force the OS to open the Photoshop file in Photoshop. nothing will work. Can anybody help?

    Birck - as the others say you don't need to and shouldn't trash the other programs - I would recommend re-installing them asap. What you need to do is find the PS file you want to open and do a right-click over it and select 'get info' then find the 'open with' drop down menu and choose Photoshop. Once selected also click the 'change all' button below and close the get info window. Now all your PS files should open in the correct program :)
    Greg
    Edit - oops didn't see this had already been answered - hope things are working better for you now.

  • When i double click itunes it doesn't open it just comes up with an error saying " The itunes library.itl file cannot be found or created. The default location for this file is in the 'itunes' folder in the 'music' folder". How can i fix this?

    When i double click itunes it doesn't open it just comes up with an error saying " The itunes library.itl file cannot be found or created. The default location for this file is in the 'itunes' folder in the 'music' folder. How can i fix this problem?

    Anyone can help to advice how to solve this issue ?

  • Double clicking an event doesn't open it

    My mac mini has iphoto '11 version 9.4.3. and I can't seem to open an event. When I click on it the event is highlighted in yellow and I have a little drop down arrow on the lower right that gives me the option to trash or copy it, but that's it.
    On my other macs I can double click an event to see thumbnails, then double click a thumbnail to see the actual photo. I have tried to open photos in events, photo stream, last import, and I have even downloaded photos and can't open them either. I've been through just about every preference setting there is and I'm starting to think I have a broken Iphoto. Suggestions?

    Oh, ha, ok! I just tried to change the mouse settings but didn't get anywhere with that. I'm using a Dynex wireless mouse and it seems the only thing I can change is the tracking and double click speed.

  • CS5: double-click on file does not open the file

    If Photoshop is closed, double-click on a file will always successfully launch Photoshop and open the picture.
    If Photoshop is running, double-clicking on a file will activate Photoshop, but very often the file does not open. It works from time to time though, and that seems to be on a random basis.
    Opening a file through the Open command will always work.
    I am working with 10.6.3 on a loaded Mac Pro.
    Did anybody experience this difficulty? Any help would be appreciated, before I take more drastic measures like reinstalling the software of worse than that. I've already done the usual maintenance operations.

    Marian Driscoll wrote:
    Caustic waltz, while brief, may have hit the nail on the head. If you do not want to continue this thread, you can search the forum for existing posts about Snow Leopard and file-program association confusion. Snow Leopard changed some things and that might be your issue.
    More simply, do your image files have extensions? (.PSD, .JPG, etc...)
    Hello Marian:
    While browsing through my Adobe account, I saw that you took the time to leave a comment two days ago. While it did not solve my problem, I will mark your comment as "helpful" for several reasons. It could have been a cause. And I will add politeness, courtesy and language precision. I'm an old guy and I quite value those elements.
    True, Snow Leopard changed changed the way files are associated to applications. Thank God! Here in our small office, we do a lot of cross-platform transfers and finally it works seamlessly. A good description of the new file identification system can be found here.
    Now, here are the reasons why Snow Leopard cannot be put at fault in my case:
    • If Photoshop CS5 is not launched, double-clicking on any psd, tiff or jpeg file will launch it and open properly.
    • If Photoshop CS5 is already running, double-clicking on any psd, tiff, or jpeg file will activate Photoshop CS5 but will not open.
    This points at either a bug or damaged Photoshop CS5, or maybe a damaged OS. Don't forget that out of maybe a hundred apps, this is the first time I meet with that problem. Of course, the easier course, but by no means guaranteed to work, is to presume that Photoshop CS5 is damaged or that its installation did not work properly. So I did the following things:
    • I deactivated Photoshop CS5 and uninstalled it.
    • I ditched all remaining files related to CS5, CS4, CS3, CS2, CS... yes I know, but then you know as well as I do0 that getting really rid of Photoshop is a daunting task. It took me almost two hours, but I am reasonably sure that the cleaning job was complete.
    • I reinstalled Photoshop CS5.
    Now everything works just fine at least for the time being. Time will tell, of course, but I think that the problem is solved.
    Regards

  • Double clicking on icons doesn't open up applications anymore

    My iMac recently went thru a electrical surge in my house that ultimately caused an electircal fire in the wall of my home. Anyway, I'm no longer to able to just simply double click on a desktop icon which, in turn, wold open up the appropriate application, and I'm not sure what to do to fix that problem. It's very unconvient to right mouse click then selct open and choose my app.
    Oh, my iMac has gotten slow too.
    Help!

    butterkups,
    The electrical surge probably caused a hard shutdown which resulted in corrupted caches.
    For the double-click problem, go to System Preferences...>Universal Access>Mouse>Mouse Options>... and change the "Double-Click" speed.
    For the slow mac try Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode.

  • Double-clicking Home button doesn't open camera

    When I double-click the Home Button with lock screen, I get "iPod" controls (right-facing wedge to "resume" music/video) rather than the camera, as the Quick Start brochure with the iPhone 4S says I should get to use the camera quickly. Any ideas of what I should do to fix this?  Thanks.

    You should also see the camera icon in the lower right hand corner of the screen next to the (shorter) swipe to unlock. Double clicking alone does not launch the camera.

  • Cannot open bell emails anymore - works excellently on internet explorer. When I double click the email doesn't open - I have Vista

    I have a bell email address - [email protected] I used to be able to open my emails using Firefox as a browser. Since a couple of weeks when I try this, nothing happens.
    When I use the Internet Explorer I don't have this problem.

    Welcome to the Apple Community.
    Is this related to iCloud. Perhaps you would be best contacting Vodacomail.

  • Double-clicking a file

    When I double-click a file it will open the file in CS6 version 13.0.1, but then after a while double-clicking will no longer open jpeg or raw files.  I can open the same files by going to File > Open in the Menu Bar. 
    When I am simply opening downloaded files from my camera, I can open 200-300 by double-clicking with no problems.  However, at times when I am working on an image, it is not long before I can't open a file by double-clicking.  It will open a blank Photoshop window, but without any Toolbar or Menu Bars.
    This happens on a regular basis.  Sometimes, also, Photoshop is slow to Quit, for no apparent reason.
    Is anyone aware of this problem?

    Still having this problem.
    If I open a jpeg and just change the name, then Save As to a folder, I can then open another jpeg by double-clicking.
    However, whenever I open a jpeg and make changes to the image in Photoshop, then Save As to a folder, I can then no longer open a jpeg by double-clicking.  Photoshop will open, but the jpeg will not open.
    Since this only happens after making changes to a jpeg in Photoshop, it seems to me the problem is with something in Photoshop, and has nothing to do with my OS.

  • Can't double click include files within page to open them in CS3

    In Dreamweaver 8, if I had a page that had an include file
    in, and I wanted to edit the include file, all I had to do was
    double click the include within the page I was working on, and the
    include file would open up. This doesn't work in CS3 for me
    although I think I have all the same preferences set. Can anyone
    tell me how to bring back this very convenient feature?

    elhz wrote:
    > I had been right clicking it in design view which does
    not give me the open
    > file choice but when I right click it in code view it
    does. Not as convenient
    > as double clicking the file in design view the way it
    works in Dreamweaver 8
    > but still much more convenient than looking for it in
    the site. Thanks for
    > your help.
    >
    Ahh, I did not realize you were trying in Design View. I
    spend most
    time in Code View, so that's where my focus was. Glad you
    were able to
    parse my explanation and get this to work, albeit not as you
    had hoped.
    E. Michael Brandt
    www.divahtml.com
    www.divahtml.com/products/scripts_dreamweaver_extensions.php
    Standards-compliant scripts and Dreamweaver Extensions
    www.valleywebdesigns.com/vwd_Vdw.asp
    JustSo PictureWindow
    JustSo PhotoAlbum, et alia

  • Opening photoshop from double click on file opens the app but doesn't open the file.

    This is a new behaviour... how can we solve it? Its very annoying!

    Thanks!
    Steps to reproduce:
    Having the photoshop closed...
    1 - Double click a psd file on the desktop (or any other place)
    2 - Photoshop loads until it gets to the normal window
    3 - The file wasn't opened
    4 - Go back to the desktop and double click the file
    5 - Photoshop (that is at this time already open), opens the file and displays it on screen
    Shouldn't it be opening the file after loading photoshop?
    details on my macbook and photoshop versions attached

  • How Can I Simulate Double-Clicking A File To Open It In The Default App Without Installing Default App?

    I have an app written with Visual Studio 2013. The app has code for opening a file using the standard OpenFileDialog and also has code (AutoOpenFile()) for opening a file when a user double-clicks on a file that is handled by the app. I have not yet created
    an installer for the app, so I won't be able to test it's AutoOpenFile() code...unless there is a way to simulate the process of auto-opening the double-clicked file without actually installing the app on my PC. Anyone?

    Thanks for your reply, Wyck. I already have the necessary code in my app for opening a file when I double-click on it. The problem is that the app is not currently installed on my PC. Until I do install it, is there a way I can test-run that code
    by double-clicking on an associated file?
    You lost me at: you want to test-run code that is not on your PC.
    O_o
    You want to double-click a file, and then...what do you want to have happen?  You want to run...something...that is not on your PC??
    The "simulation" is to launch your app from the command line and pass in the name of the file you wanted to simulate a "double-click" of.
    Regardless, you cannot get the shell to have a double-click of a file cause your application to launch unless you modify the registry to do so.  (This is tantamount to "install" to me.)
    In the spirit of continuing to be helpful, though, I'll assume that this is what you want to do and I'll show you how to get it done with the least amount of tampering with your registry.
    Here are minimally invasive registry modifications you need to make to get it to launch a program when you double-click your file.  It's pretty small.
    EXAMPLE ONLY:
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wyck]
    @="Wyck.Document"
    [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wyck.Document\shell\open\command]
    @="c:\\windows\\system32\\notepad.exe \"%1\""
    [You have to save the above with your appropriate modifications to a file with the
    .reg extension (e.g.: test.reg) and then you'll have to double-click the test.reg file to "merge" these settings into your registry.]
    The example above registers a file extension called .wyck and assigns a completely arbitrary class name to it called
    Wyck.Document.
    Then it associates a shell open command with the Wyck.Document class that causes
    notepad.exe to be passed the filename of the file you double-clicked (that's what the
    %1 does).  You are welcome to replace all the specific names with your own extensions and class names and replace notepad.exe with the path to your (test) executable.
    This executable will be launched, but not with a debugger attached.  To facilitate debugging it, you'll want to temporarily add some code to your program to pause when the program launches, possibly by showing a message box right at the very beginning
    of your main function that says "attach debugger now" so that you can attach a debugger to the process that was started by the shell, and then dismiss the message box and continue debugging.
    When you are done with your testing, you can simply manually delete those two registry keys using
    regedit.

  • Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen!   My question concerns the impossibility to open RAW-files directly from the program Adobe Bridge. At the moment when you open a RAW-file from Adobe Bridge by double-clicking, RAW-file is opened only in Photoshop. In t

    Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen!
    My question concerns the impossibility to open RAW-files directly from the program Adobe Bridge. At the moment when you open a RAW-file from Adobe Bridge by double-clicking, RAW-file is opened only in Photoshop. In the settings Adobe Bridge - in "open RAW-files by double-clicking in Adobe Camera Raw» box is checked. When you try any changes in the settings Adobe Bridge system displays a message:
    Bridge's parent application is not active. Bridge requires that a qualifying product has been launched at least once to enable this feature.
    The entire line of Adobe products on my computer updated to the latest updates. Previously, a family of products Adobe Photoshop on your computer is not set. Computer - PC, Windows 7 Enterprises.

    <moved from Adobe Creative Cloud to Bridge General Discussion>

  • Double-click in Files panel will not open a file

    Double-click in Files panel will not open a file. Instead
    alert message appears (I will translate from Czech): "Design notes
    are not allowed for this file. If you want to use Design notes...".
    I do not want use Design notes, I want to open a file from File
    Panel.
    The same issue is when opening by right-click/Open. The only
    (and unconfortable) way to open a file from Files panel is to
    right-click/Open in program/Dreamweaver, this works.
    Do you know why? help me, please, this disturbs me very much.
    I have clean installation of up to date CS3 Design Premium
    (Version 9.0 build 41) on WinXP SP2. Previous version of DW (v8)
    worked fine in this way. Associations in system are set OK, I
    think, because double-clicking in my file manager really opens for
    examle PHP files in DW.

    Also Drag & Drop from Files panel is not functioning.
    Sometimes neither alert appears, simply nothing happen.
    Note: I am trying usual files like PHP or HTML files, but
    also others (PDF, CSS) with the same result - nothing
    happens.

  • Ai and eps will not open in Ai when you double click the file icon or drag onto to app icon

    I get the following error messages when I double click the files icon or drag the file to the Ai app icon in the dock. The only way to open the files is via File > Open with in the app.
    Photoshop and InDesign files open fine, it's just Illustrator.
    The document “xyz.ai” could not be opened. Illustrator cannot open files in the “Adobe Illustrator Document” format.
    The document “xyz.eps” could not be opened. Illustrator cannot open files in the “EPS File” format.
    Running CS5.5 on Mavericks then Yosemite.

    th1nk,
    I believe the right order/way is to update the OS, then reinstall the applications. Was that how you did it?

Maybe you are looking for