• Setting Default Programs Mac
• Mac Choose Default Program

Setting Default Programs Mac

• A default program is the program that Windows uses when you open a particular type of file, such as a music file, an image, or a webpage. For example, if you have more than one web browser installed on your computer, you can choose one of them to be the default browser.
• Choose the preferred program and it will instantly change the default Mac app for that file type. The Change All button will change all file types for that app so that any other customizations will revert back to defaults.

How can I change the default app for all files of a particular file type through the Terminal in OS X?

Type 'file associations' from the Windows 8 Start screen, click 'Settings' and select 'Make a File Type Always Open in a Specific Program' from the search results. When you double-click a file on your Mac, the operating system will automatically open the file using the program assigned to that type of file. It is possible, though, to open the file using.

2 Answers

Follow the menu path Start > Default Programs > Associate a file type or protocol with a specific program Highlight.pdf, then click Change. Choose your preferred PDF viewer, such as Adobe Reader. After you have changed this file association, though, you may want to reset this file association back to the default program that Mac OS was configured with when it was installed. Click 'Continue' and now all of the files that are the same file format (.PDF,.Doc, etc.) will open with the new default application you just assigned. Keep in mind that any single files you have set to open with an application other than the system default will still open with that application.

I have a simpler way. You'll want Homebrew if you don't already have it:

Now you need to find the id of the app you want to use, and assign it to the extension you want to use it for. In this example, I already use Brackets for *.sh and I want to also use it for *.md files instead of xcode.

The last line is the id.

Edit ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist.

Add an entry under LSHandlers, containing the UTI (key LSHandlerContentType, e.g. public.plain-text) and application bundle identifier (LSHandlerRoleAll, e.g. com.macromates.textmate).

Mac Choose Default Program

It looks like this in Property List Editor:

To do this from the command line, use defaults or /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy. Both have extensive manpages.

For example to open all .plist files using Xcode:

defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSHandlers -array-add '{ LSHandlerContentType = 'com.apple.property-list'; LSHandlerRoleAll = 'com.apple.dt.xcode'; }'

Of course, you'd need to make sure there's not already another entry for the UTI com.apple.property-list already in there.

Here's a more complete script that'll remove existing entries for a UTI and add a new one. Circuit drawing program for mac. It can only handle LSHandlerContentType, and will always set LSHandlerRoleAll, and has hard-coded bundle IDs instead of parameters. Other than that, it should work quite well.

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Sometimes, if your Mac doesn’t recognize a file type as something that one of its programs can handle, or if you want a specific file type to always open in a specific program, Mac OS X Lion might need a little help from you. Mac OS X Lion lets you specify the application in which you want to open a document in the future when you double-click it. Suppose that you want all .tif graphic files that usually open in Preview to open instead in Pixelmator, a more capable third-party program

More than that, you can specify that you want all documents of that type to open with the specified application. “Where is this magic bullet hidden?” you ask. Right there in the file’s Info window.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Click one of the files in the Finder.

2. Choose File→Get Info (Command+I).

3. In the Info window, click the gray triangle to disclose the Open With pane.

4. From the pop-up menu, choose an application that Mac OS X believes will open this document type.

5. (Optional) If you click the Change All button at the bottom of the Open With pane, you make Pixelmator the new default application for all .tif files that would otherwise be opened in Preview.

   Notice the handy alert that appears when you click the Change All button and how nicely it explains what will happen if you click Continue.