Finder Open With Lists Some Applications Twice

My finder>open with menu lists some applications twice.
A minor annoyance I'd like to fix.
Example: If I choose a JPG file and go to "open with" the following programs are listed twice: Firefox, QuickTime, RealPlayer & Safari. Some other programs are listed once.
There are NOT two versions of these programs on my computer, but there is the System folder from my old Mac.
Is there a way to fix this little problem?
Macbook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8) 17 inch

The mac finder will pick up applications anywhere on your hard drive when you do the "open with".
If you aren't using your old System Folder you could create a .zip archive of it and remove the original Folder.
I'd be open to hearing other approaches, but this will work.

Similar Messages

'Open with' window displaying applications twice

When right clicking on an icon / file, either directly on the desktop or in finder, and selecting 'Open With' I am getting a lot of applications listed twice, directly on top of each other. For example
Photoshop CS
Photoshop CS
Firefox
Firefox
This seems to have started since I upgraded to Tiger.
It seems to be picking up those programs in my main application folder twice.
Any ideas?
Regards
James

I know, I know, I was just playing
I am English .... I come installed with Sarcasm as standard. I live in Canada now so it is slowly being upgraded to warm and friendly!
Nothing negative was taken I assure you Thanks for your response, it was appreciated.

Finder Open With lists programs multiple times

When I right click on a file in Finder and select Open With, multple versions of the same programs are listed. I've got 5 versions of Evernote, 4 of Pixelmator, 3 of PDFpen and 2 of Skitch. What's causing this? When I look in my Applicaitons folder, there's only the most current version.

It may be that Launch Services database needs to be rebuilt.
Copy and paste this command in the Terminal:
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -seed

Compressor is not a finder "open with" recommended application for qt's

On my macbookpro If I select a quicktime file in the finder and go to the file:open with:recommended applications, compressor is not a choice. I can easily choose it as a nonrecommended application, but it's a bit of a pain. The same is true for a quicktime export from fcp (the first quicktime export option, not quicktime conversion) which has a fcp icon not a qt icon. On my G5 tower, qt files do have compressor as an option for open with, but fcp exports, do not.
Obviously I could change the "open with" option in the file info for either an individual file or all files of this type, but I just want compressor available in the "open with" list for either file type.
This ain't a deal breaker, just a minor annoyance.
Message was edited by: Michael Grenadier

What version of FCS/FCP, Michael?
If you're using FCP 5.x, the issue with QuickTime Movie exports from FCP is because those movies do not have an .mov extension. You can't drag them to the Compressor icon on the dock and force Compressor to open, for instance, like you can for anything else that actually has a .mov extension.
As far as opening QT movies with Compressor, mind explaining why you're doing this? That is, you're opening them in Compressor for previewing purposes, correct?

CS Bridge when opening file shows " Some Application Components are missing from Application Directory- Reinstall". Uninstalled with uninstaller, reinstalled from disc. Message continues only in Bridge not in PS. Please help.

CS Bridge when opening file shows " Some Application Components are missing from Application Directory- Reinstall". Uninstalled with uninstaller, reinstalled from disc. Message continues only in Bridge not in PS. Please help.

What version of Bridge and Photoshop and what platform? Mac or Windows? I can point you to a downloadable installer.
If the cdrom was damaged, it may be the problem.
You would uninstall and use the CC/CS Cleaner to remove any remnants before reinstalling.
Use the CC Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems | CC, CS3-CS6
I'll be gone for most of the day, but someone should be able to help you if you get stuck.
Gene

Is there a way to shorten the "Open With" list?

Hi -
This may be a question for Apple because it is a uniquely Apple Finder problem.
Or maybe some clever 3rd party Apple developer will take this on - because this is an Apple Finder problem (hint).
Is there a way to shorten the "Open With" list that appears when I right-click on a file?
Heres why this is important to me.
1- I'm seeing multiple versions of the same app on the list, like Photoshop CS5, Photoshop CS5.1, Photoshop CS 5.5. I can't think of any reason why I would ever want to use an older version of Photoshop. And it's not only Photoshop or even Adobe products.
2- I see incorrect apps being suggested. If I right click on an Illustrator file I see that TextEdit is one of the choices. I get Photoshop as an option to open HTML files. I see BBEdit as an option to open JPEG files. These are bizarre associations. Why are they even on the list?
3- With so many irrelevant choices the possibility of selecting the wrong application increases and doing so is a waste of time and resources. Once I accidentally selected a text editor to open a JPEG. After about 3 minutes of RAM-sucking processing I got a huge file of jibberish text characters that was thousands of lines long. Waste of time!
I KNOW I'm not the only one with this question.
Is there anyone out there with an answer???
Thanks,
JL

baltwo - thank you for the expert advice.
I did as you instructed and the situation is better but I don't believe it's solved.
I still get 3 versions of Photoshop when I right click on a PSD. I also get Dashcode and Textwrangler - which are the oddest associations. All together I get 25 apps responding to "Open With" on a PSD. And this is an improvement.
Do you think I would get even better results if I ran the same command again?
Thanks again.
JL

How change the File Open With list of apps?

In Bridge CS3, how does one edit the list of applications in the File > Open With menu (also available from the contextual menu for any image).
The list contains a number of applications that I would never use to open an image, and I would like to add to it, a new image editor (pixelmator) that does not appear in it. I have looked in the Bridge Help and the Preferences dialog and don't see any option to do this.

OK, I have now learned that Mac OS keeps the list of which apps to open what, in the "launch services database."
This database can be cleaned up and reset which somewhat simplifies the list that is displayed by the Finder OR by Bridge CS3.
Here is an article on how to reset the launchdb:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031215144430486
Be sure to read all the way to the end as there are updated instructions down among the comments.
Here is a thread in the Apple Support forums discussing the same issue, and it includes links to some 3rd-party programs that can reset launch services without use of a lengthy Terminal command:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1289317
Even after rebuilding the launchdb, I find that a large number of apps are "registered" to open JPG files, including Camino, Opera, TextWrangler and others with only a tenuous connection to JPG. I don't understand why this is, and I would still like to find a way to limit the JPG Open-With list to a few graphics programs. But cleaning up the launchdb as described in the linked pages, did get rid of some programs and added some missing ones.
Hope this actually constructive info is useful to others.
Dave Cortesi

Clearing the Finder "Open With" contextual menu ?

After the install I now have duplicates of all the stuff I used to have in the open with menu.
Like VLC and then under it VLC (version number).
How do I clear it?

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.

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.

Edit "Open With"-list

How can I edit the "Open With"-list in finder?
I know that I can change default application by clicking on "Get info", but I don't want to change default application I just want to add an application to the top of the "Open With"-list.
Usually I open images in Preview, but sometimes I want to use the application imageJ without having to go to "Open With" -> "Other". Right now I have Safari in the "Open With"-list and I would like to swap Safari for imageJ (since I never use Safari for images).
Thanks!

You can't edit the Open With list, it is created by the system by polling all your installed applications for their list of files that they can open. If a program claims it can open jpegs, it is added to the list. If it lacks a notification file for the system to read it won't be added. There is nothing you can do about either situation--you can't add, subtract nor rearrange the list.
The absolute easiest way to occasionally open a file with some program other than the default is to launch the program, then drag 'n drop the file onto the icon of the running program in the Dock.
If this is something you do semi-regularly you might want to make a new Service using Automator to open a selected file with your program. Thus I mainly want my html files to open in Safari when double clicked, but since I hand code I ofter want to open the file in both Safari and TextEdit. So I made a Service to open in TextEdit. When I right click a file there is my Service down at the bottom of the Contextual Menu to open the file in TextEdit.
Rob Griffiths has written a tutorial on creating a Service in Automator:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137494/Howto_create_a_Service_in_Snow_Leopard?source=rssnews
There's an introduction to Automator here:
http://www.macosxautomation.com/automator/transcript.html
Personally I really like the "new" Services and revamped Automator.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Reset "open-with" list

Hello
i am wondering how i can reset the "open-with" list in finders context menu
Background: i am writing a small mac-application and based on the tests with old versions i do have my open-with list spammed with about 10 entries of the same programm (for each version one entry adding the version number)
I tried following this hint in apple docs:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305627
without success.
any other idea in mind ?
Best regards
fidel

This is from MacOSXhints.com:
http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25012
"I cannot remember where I got this from but all credits go to the original author:
If your "Open With" menu shows applications that are no longer installed, or shows some of them as duplicates, you can use the following Terminal command to rebuild your LaunchServices database:
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/\
Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister \
-kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
just copy and paste into terminal and let it run
Or if you just want to shorten the Open With... then maybe this will help:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...ery=info.plist
Keep this stored in a stickies or something, you would want to be able to find it again next time."
/p

Is there a way to remove items from "Open With" list?

I have an interesting dilemma that I have not yet found an answer to in all of my internet/discussion forum searches. Maybe I'm asking the wrong questions or searching in the wrong places, but I've given up and now have to post the question in hopes there's an answer out there.
My issue is that whenever I want to use the "Open With" feature for an image/jpeg file, the list of choices is massive! Looking at it now, it lists over 30 applications, but at most I would only ever want to open this type of file in one of maybe four applications.
Starting off, I used to have Parallels on my computer. Have since purchased VMWare Fusion 4 and now use that as my virtual machine to run Windows for some of my design work. As far as I know, I had removed ALL of Parallels from my computer when I uninstalled the app. I followed all of the instructions in the uninstall process, but there seems to be something left behind.
It may seem that mentioning that wouldn't have anything to do with the "Open With" function, but here is a screen shot to show what happens whenever I right-click an image file:
http://www.virtuosocreative.com/apple/openwith1.jpg
Most of the time, if I right click the image, it'd be to open in Photoshop or Set as Desktop. On occasion I have had to open a jpeg file in Illustrator, but that's it.
For some reason, there are still Parallels applications showing on the "Open With" list, even though it was uninstalled and removed from my computer. But like I said earlier, it looks like I missed something.
In addition, although I am not logged into Windows or have Fusion running in the background, the "Open With" list includes all of the suggested Windows apps as well. why???
As much as I appreciate there being such an abundance of options to choose from, this gets extremely annoying when using the feature and I wanted to see if there was any way to modify this list.
More than anything, I really want to get rid of all the Parallels extras that are left on my system. But also, I wanted to see if there was a setting to tweak so that whenever I click on "Open With" on my Mac, it'll only list applications that are my Mac applications and nothing through Fusion or Parallels or anything else. And to take it a step further, it'd be nice to shorten the list to only applications I would personally use for opening a jpeg file. (i.e. Preview (default), Photoshop, Illustrator, Safari).
My system is a 2010 iMac i5 2.8GHz/8GB RAM. Lion OS X 10.7.3
Thanks!

The Open With menu is built by LaunchServices which collects the information from each app as to what it says it can open. VMWare appears to be registering every app to open jpegs.
You might try rebuilding the LaunchServices database. I believe this command still works in Lion. Or, you could use a utility like OnyX to call it:
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

Open with list

Hello out there,
Lost all of my software due to a virus attack .
Today I reinstalled adobe photo shop 7, on my wds XP pc.
After opening a picture and click the open with tab, my photo shop is not on the list
I have forgotten how to add it to the open with list, please help.
Thank you
George

With the more recent versions of Photoshop, Bridge provides a way to associate the Adobe applications with various file types. In the Bridge app it's in Edit - Preferences - File Associations as I recall. It's possible the very old versions of Photoshop didn't yet have this capability - I'm not sure when the various parts (Bridge, File Associations) appeared.
-Noel

TA24770 Clear Finder "Open With" menu with VMware Fusion 5

Hi.
I had same problem of duplicate Apps showing on Finder "Open With" contextual menu.
After following instructions on this link http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24770?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US all Mac applications where OK, but could not see VMware Fusion Virtual Machine applications in Finder contextual menu.
So follow these steps:
Shut down virtual machine.
Open virtual machine settings.
Go to Default Applications.
Click "Restore Applications".
Start virtual machine.
This should reset contextual menu in Finder with the VMware Fusion 5 applications.
Mac OS X 10.8.3
VMware Fusion 5.0.3

Great, post tip, thanks!

Finder Open With ...

I have Parallels installed and an XP VM. Parallels has decided that all .sql files should be opened with an MS application and starts the XP VM. If I explicitly change the Open With app in the More Info window it sticks but if I select the Change All option the default reverts back to the Parallels Open With. I have Default Apps in System Preferences and it indicates that my selection should be the default app for .sql files but when I create a new .sql file the Parallels default app is assigned. Is there and exit that Parallels might be using to override the Finder/Open default? Where would such an exit be identified to the system?

Right click one of these files and select Get Info.
In the Get Info window, find the Open With dropdown box and browse to the app you want to be the system default. Then, click the button just below that box that says Change All...
If that does not do it, then VM/XP is taking over the system.

Finder Open With Lists Some Applications Twice

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