Apr 18, 2018 Here are the steps for how to change the mac default programs. Read on to know more! Default applications in Mac are useful. But, they have limited usage as a default app. We can set the application as default application in Mac as per our choice. Here are the steps for how to change the mac default programs. Enabling or disabling a program set as the default program Updated: by Computer Hope Within an operating system, there can be many different software programs that perform the same function, such as playing a sound file, viewing pictures, browsing the Internet, etc.
I just downloaded a new photo editor but when I double-click on JPG or PNG files on my iMac, it still opens Photoshop. How do I change it so that the default program is the new app instead? On a PC I’d say you need to deal with the file registry or some complex setting, but on the Mac it’s surprisingly easy to get this correct, though it turns out that there are three possible solutions: you can open up a file with a specific program once, you can specify that particular file should always open up with a specific program or app, or you can tell Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks (or whatever version of Mac OS you’re running) that forevermore all files of the specified type should be assigned to the program you prefer. You can get into a bit of trouble if you assign a filetype to a program that can’t handle it, like an audio file to be always opened in Adobe Photoshop, but you’ll see, Mac OS X warns you about that by tapping into a list of known file types for each program you have on your system. Let’s start at the beginning, though. To open a file with a specific program or application, right click (oops, sorry, “control-click”) on the icon: Here I’m trying to open up the file “american-hustle-poster.jpg”, a JPEG format image. By choosing “Open With” I get a secondary menu that shows the default app for this file type (Preview) along with a list of different programs that have indicated to the OS that they can handle a JPG file. Try a different file, like a DOCX or a WMA file, and you’ll see a very different list of available apps. ![]() In this case, I’d like to open the image with GraphicConverter 9, so I could do that by simply choosing it from the list. Problem with this solution is that it doesn’t change anything for the next time I touch the file: it’ll still open in Preview on double-click. To change which program owns this particular file, pressing Control-Click THEN, while still holding down the Control key, pressing the Option key produces a slightly different menu: “Always Open With”. Sounds promising. Again, choose your favorite app and this particular file will now always open in that program. The wrinkle? It doesn’t change what program owns or will be utilized for all other JPEG or JPG files. To do that click on the file icon to choose it, then press Cmd-I or choose “Get Info” from the “File” menu in the Finder. You can see that I’ve clicked a few of the tiny grey triangles to close up all the sections other than “Open with”. If you don’t see quite the same view, just click on some of the triangles on the left side of each of the seven sections to reveal the “Open with” section. Now choose the program you’d prefer from the pop-up menu, and it’ll look like this: Looks good. Want to change each and every JPEG file on your computer to open with GraphicConverter 9, not just this one? I know you do! Click on “Change All…” If you’re sure, then a click on “Continue” and you’re done. How To Change Default Program On Mac For Mp3 PlayerThat’s it. Not too bad at all, actually. And if you ever want to change it again, just go through the same steps from the Get Info window. Let’s Stay In Touch!
I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!
How To Change Default Program To Open File
When you choose a file, your Mac tends to open it with a default program, even if you have multiple programs that are designed to work with that type of file. The odds are that your HTML files will open in Safari, your text documents will open in Pages (or if you don’t have Pages installed, it will open in Text Edit) and your pictures will open with Preview. For most of us, that is a good thing, but it may not be for you. Maybe you want to edit your photos with a more advanced tool, instead of just viewing them. That means have to open each photo in the program before you can begin your work. Not exactly what anyone would call a convenient setup.
If you want to fix that, you are going to have to change your default programs. Don’t worry. That may sound really complicated at first, but with Leopard, or Snow Leopard, it is really quite simple. Just follow these steps and you will be up and changing your file associations in no time.
Let’s continue on with your example from above, and figure out how to make your images open in Photoshop instead of in Preview. This process will work for a variety of different programs and file types. Step One: Find the File (or Files) You Wish to Change
Open the spotlight window by clicking on the magnifying glass icon on the top right hand side of your Mac desktop. Type in the name of the file that you want to find. If you are not sure of the exact name, type in only a few characters of the title. When spotlight displays your results, select the file from the list. This will automatically open the folder or file in Finder where your target item is. If you wish to change a single image, you may have to back out to the folder it is stored in. Alternatively, if you know where the file is stored, simply navigate to that location.
Step Two: Getting The File Info and Making The Change
Once you have located the file, you can single click on it to highlight it. Once the image is highlighted, go to the menu bar at the top and choose “File -> Get Info”. This will bring up the information bar for this file. Here, you will see a variety of options for your image. Click on the arrow next to the worlds “Open With.”
This will expand your file associations options for this file, but it will also give you access to change the extensions for all files of this type. Here, you will see a drop down box. It will show the name and icon of the current program that you use by default. In most cases for an image, you will see the word “Preview” written there. If you want to use Photoshop, and you have it installed, all you have to do is choose that from the drop down menu.
Changing All The Files
Lets say you want to change all of the file associations. Well, all that you have to do is follow all of the same steps as above, but after you change the drop down box, click on the button that says “Change all”. This will change the association for every file of this type.
Change Default Program Files
That’s it.
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