Mac How To Set Default Apps

Any time a user installs a new application on a Mac, it becomes the default Mac app for that file type. For example, PDF files open by default in the Mac Preview app. 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. We’ll show users how to take control of what apps open when they double-click a certain file type. Changing the Default Mac app is a simple procedure that will save users some time and avoid annoyances.

Back in the pre-Mac OS X and macOS days, Apple’s System 9 and earlier relied on hidden metadata to associate files with apps. File extensions, those bits of text that follow a period at the end. IOS 14 and iPadOS 14 launched yesterday, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge can already be set as your preferred default browser in place of Safari. Outlook and Spark are among the first apps to. 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. Read on to know more! Back in the pre-Mac OS X and macOS days, Apple’s System 9 and earlier relied on hidden metadata to associate files with apps. File extensions, those bits of text that follow a period at the end. Step 3: Change All Now that you’ve changed the default program for this file, the button for Change All is active. This button will set your Mac to use the selected application to open files of. First, open the default Mail app (sorry for that) and click on Mail Preferences in the upper menu. You’ll only need to do this once, to set default email mac. Once there, switch to the ‘General’ tab and click on ‘Default Email Reader’. Now you can choose the app you would like to be the default one for managing emails.

Why Change Default Mac App for a File Type

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. Maybe you want all JPG picture files to open in a photo editor instead of OS X Preview.

These and other file types open in a default program set by the operating system. The installation procedure of some apps will change the default. They’re not supposed to change the default Mac app for a file type without the user’s agreement. However, you may not see the dialog box that asks for permission. Likewise, the programmer may not ask for the permission in a way that makes it clear that the program’s changing your default app. Follow the steps below to fix this or change it.

How To Change A Default App

How to Change Default Mac App for Any File Type

How To Set Default Apps Mac

Find a file of the type you want to change the default mac app for by opening Finder. Some file types won’t show you the extension that identifies the type of file. The extension is the ending of the file. For example a picture file type known as JPEG has a file ending of JPG. So a file might carry the name photo0003.jpg. Notice the three letters after the period are JPG. Other common file types you may wish to change include …

  • PDF – portable document format also called Acrobat files, which open in Preview by default
  • GIF – another image format called Graphics Interchange Format which opens in Preview by default
  • DOC – a document file often associated with Word or some other word processor
  • DOCX – a proprietary Microsoft Word format
  • MP3 – music files, which open in iTunes by default
  • M4V – a video format
  • MP4 – another video format
  • MOV – movie files, which open in QuickTime by default

How To Set Default Apps In Mac Os

When a user opens Finder and looks at a file, they might not see these endings. To make sure you can see yours, open Finder and then, from the Finder menu at the top left select Preferences. You can also use the keyboard shortcut COMMAND + , (the comma).

Inside the ensuing dialog box open the Advanced tab by clicking Advanced in the top right corner of the box.

Click to put a check mark in Show all filename extensions in that dialog box. Exit the box by clicking the red button in the upper left corner. From now on you’ll see all the file extensions of every file in Finder.

Now search for a file with the extension you want to change. For example, you installed Acrobat and the installation procedure moved the default app from the OS X Preview app to Adobe Acrobat DC. You don’t want to open the Adobe Acrobat document creator program from Creative Cloud suite just to view a PDF file. Instead, you want to see all PDF files in Preview. Find a PDF file stored on your computer using Finder. If you can’t find one use the search box in Finder. It’s in the upper right corner (see below).

Once you find a file, right-click on the file and choose Get Info from the menu that pops up.

A dialog box will open. Look for the Open With section. You’ll see a drop down box.

The drop down box will list all the OS X apps that can handle that file type. 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. For example, all file types that normally open with Microsoft Word will change back to opening with Word. If you changed one of the types, like the DOC file format making it open in another word processor while keeping DOCX files assigned to Word, clicking Change All will change both back to Word. So pick it only when you know what you’re doing.

You may want to go back into Finder’s preferences to hide file extensions after you finish because all apps will start showing their .app file extension. If seeing the .app extension annoys you follow the steps above to hide the extensions in Finder Preferences.

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You know how when you double-click a PNG file it opens in Preview? What if you want it to open in Photoshop by default instead? This guide shows you how to to just that – change the default App that’s used when you open a file.

Some common “I’d rather use this App when I open this kind of file” scenarios are:

Mac How To Set Default App

  • Open PDF files with Preview instead of Adobe Acrobat
  • Open .txt files in an App other than Notepad
  • Open media files (MP3, MP4, AVI etc.) in VLC instead of iTunes or Quicktime

    • The process to switch default Apps is super-fast and easy to do, and easy to change again later any time you want.

    Mac How To Set Default Apps Chrome

    1. For the sake of this guide we’re going to switch .M3U files (commonly used as playlists) from opening in iTunes to the media player VLC. That doesn’t mean you need to do the same, this process is the identical no matter what type of file you’re dealing with.

      Locate a file of the type you want to switch. Right-click the file (or hold down the control button on your keyboard and then click on the file) and select Get Info from the context menu.

    2. A window will appear with all kinds of info about that file. Locate the Open with: section and expand it (if necessary) by clicking the small ‘triangle’ icon. Click the ‘pull-down’ menu to open it.
    3. If the App you want to open this type of file with from now on is listed, select it. Congrats, you also get to skip down to step #7. If the App you want to open this file with is not listed – don’t worry, just click the Other… item from the menu.
    4. A pop-up window will appear allowing you to pick the program you want to open this type of file with. Find the App by first selecting Applications and then scroll through the list. When you find the App, select it by clicking on it once. Now skip down to step #6. If the App you want to use to open the file with is ‘greyed out’ and you can’t select it – no problem.
    5. Click the Enable: menu and select All Applications. Now the App you want to select will not be greyed out.
    6. Make sure that the Always Open With box is checked, and then click the Add
      button.
    7. Almost done! Click the Change All… button.
    8. You’ll be prompted for confirmation – click Continue.
    9. Now just make sure that the App you want to use is the one listed as the (default) in the Open with: section.
    10. Done! Repeat these steps for other file type associations you want to make.