What I am interested in is the section in the red box. Here is all the information about the file you selected, including where it is located on the Mac, the size of it and much more. You will be presented with a window that looks like the image below. This will bring you a menu with a number of actions on it. Locate your file and right click ( Alt click) on the icon. So if you want all PNG files to open in a new app, you will need an PNG image to perform this. If you want to change the default app that opens a certain file type, you need to find a file that has the correct file type. Yet sometimes you need to change what application is opened by a file type, and in this tutorial I’m going to explain how.

There are times when this is necessary, just as there are times when you want to open just one file in a different application - where you simply right click and select that from the Open With option.

This will only change the application to open for this specific file - meaning this file will always open in the app you choose, regardless of what you set as the default opener for that file type. Some of you may have noticed that when viewing the ‘right click’ menu for a video or image file, if you hold down Alt it will swap Open With to Always Open With. If that’s the case, then you don’t want to have to right click ( Alt click) and select your new app from the Open With drop-down every time you watch a movie - you want to know that every MP4 file will open with your preferred app. For example QuickTime is the default player for viewing movies, but you may prefer MPlayerX or VLC. There are apps, however, that are sometimes better suited to a person’s needs, and they wish for more than the default app. Apple’s OS X comes shipped with some great software - applications that allow you to watch movies and open pictures, and more! It is meant to allow you to be able to use your new Mac immediately.

Read on to see why you might want to change the default application and how you can do so easily.īefore I explain how to change the default application, it’s important to know why you might want to. I won't be using Terminal or any third party applications, so you won't need to dive into any code, nor download any applications. In this Quick Tip I will show you how you can change the default application that opens your files. In a previous article, Removing Duplicates in ‘Open With’ Using Terminal, I’ve covered how to clean up your options for opening files with different applications.

Change default programs mac osx