Add "Open With" program

Question

Add "Open With" program

I want to be able to open a file type (.dspDisc) in two different programs (DVD Studio Pro, and Smultron), however, I don't know how to add Smultron to the "open with" pop up box (when I right click).

I can say "always open with Smultron," and then I can right click and choose DVD Studio Pro, but I want it to "always open with DVD Studio Pro" with the option to "open with Smultron."

Is there a way to add Smultron to the Open With options? Currently, DVD Studio Pro is the only option in the "open with."

Matthew

Intel iMac (1st gen), Mac OS X (10.4.8), broken 2nd gen iPod, 2nd gen Shuffle

Posted on Aug 21, 2007 11:07 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Francine Schwieder

Level 6

19,052 points

Aug 22, 2007 10:42 AM in response to Matthew Kelling

When the system boots up one of the things it does is take a look at the installed applications and consult the info.plist inside the application to see what file types the application claims to open. This information is then cached and Finder consults this when constructing the "Open with" list. You can over-ride the default by selecting a file and then select the application you want to use to open that file, or even all files of that file type. Your over-ride selection is then stored in your home Library Preferences folder in this file:

"/Users/yourname/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist"

Finder consults that list as well as the list generated by the system. You can add an application as the default to your personal list, and it will appear as the default to open the file, even though its own info.plist does not claim to be able to open the file type. It will then appear in the Open With list as the default application, and other applications will appear as alternatives.

It sounds like the source of your problem is that the info.plist inside Smultron does not claim to be able to open files of the type .dspDisc--so while you can assign it open those files and it will then appear as the default, by being added to your personal over-ride list, it won't appear at all if you choose the "normal" application as the default.

If you are good at hacking you could modify the Smultron info.plist to add the file type to its list of things it will open. Otherwise the best course is to just launch it and drag the occasional file you want it to open to the Smultron icon on the Dock.
Francine

Francine
Schwieder

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Answer 2

Aug 23, 2007 5:48 AM in response to Matthew Kelling

Hi Matthew,

I'm not 100% sure if I correctly understood what you wanted to do, but I think I had a similar question/problem.

My peeve was that graphic files (PNGs, GIFs, PDFs, seemingly everything under the sun) opened with Preview. Got really sick of quitting Preview, opening Photoshop and opening the file from there, or control-clicking to get to 'Open With'.

I selected a file (took a screen capture for a quickie PNG) did a 'Get Info' on the file, chose Photoshop from the 'Open with' option, and did a 'Change All...'. Repeat as necessary for whatever file type you want to open with a different application.

Buddy

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