HOWTO: Set The Default Program To Open Certain File Types in Mac OS X (EG: jpg, gif, etc)

Description

It can be quite annoying when you double click a file and it opens a program you don’t want or expect.  This HOWTO article describes the simple process of setting the default program on your Mac that opens any file type.  You’ll mostly want to open pictures such as jpg, gif, etc with a certain program but you can apply this solution to almost any file type.

Symptoms

• When you double click a particular file or type of file in Finder or from your desktop the wrong program opens the file

• You are presented with a dialog box saying There is no default application specified to open the document….

Explanation

In OSX, most files have an extension which is usually 3 characters long. For example, some common picture files are usually .jpg, .gif, .tif and .png. Files with these extensions will behave in one of two ways when double clicked -

1. Launch a program associated with the file extension OR
2. OSX will prompt you with the message: There is no default application specified to open the document…

The solutions below will discuss both situations and how to select or change the desired program that launches your file. Proposed solutions below….

Solution 1 – Change Registered File Type

1. In Finder or from your Desktop, right click or CTRL+Click on the file that you want to change the launch program for
2. Click Get Info. The info box will appear
3. The fourth section down from General is the Open With... section. Click the down arrow on the field in this section and either choose an application or select Other to browse for an application elsewhere on your Mac.
4. When you have selected an application you can either close the Info box and this will just make the selected file open with your chosen application or you can click the Change All… button.
5. If you click the Change All.. button you will then be asked for confirmation that you want all similar documents to open with your chosen application. Click Continue if this is what you want.
6. Close the Info box and you’re done!

Solution 2 – Use ‘Open With…’ Context Menu Option

1. In Finder or from your Desktop, right click or CTRL+Click on the file that you want to change the launch program for
2. Select Open With and then select Other…
3. When the Choose Application dialog appears locate the application you want to use for opening the selected file type and then place a check mark in the box Always Open With
4. Click Open
5. Your file will open in your chosen application and the selected file will always open with that application from now on

This method will only change the default launch program for the selected file and not all files of the same type. For all files, use Solution 1 above.

Please Comment! Add your comments below if this solved your issue or if you found that your setup was different. Please let us know your versions and what exactly you were doing when you had this issue so that we can update this solution and help others with the same problem.