how to change default program to open a file mac

For example, you installed Acrobat and the installation procedure moved the default app from the OS X Preview app to Adobe Acrobat DC. Now search for a file with the extension you want to change. From now on you’ll see all the file extensions of every file in Finder. Exit the box by clicking the red button in the upper left corner. Inside the ensuing dialog box open the Advanced tab by clicking Advanced in the top right corner of the box.Ĭlick to put a check mark in Show all filename extensions in that dialog box. You can also use the keyboard shortcut COMMAND +, (the comma). To make sure you can see yours, open Finder and then, from the Finder menu at the top left select Preferences. When a user opens Finder and looks at a file, they might not see these endings. MOV – movie files, which open in QuickTime by default.MP3 – music files, which open in iTunes by default.DOCX – a proprietary Microsoft Word format.DOC – a document file often associated with Word or some other word processor.GIF – another image format called Graphics Interchange Format which opens in Preview by default.PDF – portable document format also called Acrobat files, which open in Preview by default.Other common file types you may wish to change include … Notice the three letters after the period are JPG. So a file might carry the name photo0003.jpg. For example a picture file type known as JPEG has a file ending of JPG.

Some file types won’t show you the extension that identifies the type of file. How to Change Default Mac App for Any File Typeįind a file of the type you want to change the default mac app for by opening Finder. Follow the steps below to fix this or change it. Likewise, the programmer may not ask for the permission in a way that makes it clear that the program’s changing your default app. However, you may not see the dialog box that asks for permission. They’re not supposed to change the default Mac app for a file type without the user’s agreement. The installation procedure of some apps will change the default. These and other file types open in a default program set by the operating system. Maybe you want all JPG picture files to open in a photo editor instead of OS X Preview. Why would you want to change a default Mac app for a file type? Let’s say you want to open a video file using VLC Media player instead of Apple’s QuickTime Player. Why Change Default Mac App for a File Type Changing the Default Mac app is a simple procedure that will save users some time and avoid annoyances.

We’ll show users how to take control of what apps open when they double-click a certain file type. However, if a user downloads and installs Adobe’s Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat DC, the default file type will change so that all PDF files will open with Adobe Acrobat. For example, PDF files open by default in the Mac Preview app. Any time a user installs a new application on a Mac, it becomes the default Mac app for that file type.

How to change default program to open a file mac