Open with Dialog box has duplicate entries

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Level 1

147 points

Open with Dialog box has duplicate entries

Today while trying to open a pdf document, I right clicked and chose the open with command. There I found 3 instances of Adobe Reader, 2 of Preview, 3 of Gimp etc. I have reset permissions and rebooted, but still the same issue. What gives? Is there an easy way to fix this?

MacBook C2D White 1 GB, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Feb 5, 2009 7:35 PM

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Answer 1

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Limnos

Level 10

411,187 points

Feb 5, 2009 7:43 PM in response to dndrich

The feature that provides which applications open which documents is called LaunchServices. It tends to get cluttered like that. I just live with it. Onyx utility (free) has a feature to rebuild the database if you wish. I'd make sure I had a complete backup before using it though.

There's also methods outlined in:

[How to rebuild the LaunchServices database|http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031215144430486]

[X Lab Resetting Launch Services|http://thexlab.com/faqs/resetlaunchservices.html]

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Answer 2

dndrich Author

Level 1

147 points

Feb 5, 2009 8:52 PM in response to Limnos

Thank you so much! I will try one of the solutions, and make a backup clone first!

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Answer 3

Limnos

Level 10

411,187 points

Feb 5, 2009 9:08 PM in response to dndrich

Let us know how it goes!

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Answer 4

dndrich Author

Level 1

147 points

Feb 5, 2009 10:41 PM in response to Limnos

I backed up with Carbon Copy Cloner, then ran Onyx to repair and rebuild the launchservices database. Voila, it worked! Now the entries are correct, and not duplicated.

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Answer 5

Limnos

Level 10

411,187 points

Feb 5, 2009 11:32 PM in response to dndrich

Thanks for the report.

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