I've downloaded a few files from the internet and when I open them they come out on TextEdit.
The files are all gibberish, so I can't read it.
My settings are on Automatic..I changed to UTF-8..still the same
I changed them to Plain Text …no change
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
MacBook Air 11″, macOS 10.13
You’re looking at what amounts to an unrecognized data file; a binary file. the data in the file might be a document, or an executable app, or who-knows-what.
Want macOS to tell you about the file format?
Launch Terminal app.
Type the following “file “ command, followed by a space or two, and do not press the return key:
file
Go back to the GUI, and drag one of the downloaded files into the Terminal app window.
That’ll drag the filename and its path into the command. Not the file itself, but the file specification.
You’ll get something that looks like the following command, but with different text mixed together with the slashes:
file /Users/mrhoffman/Downloads/MysteryFile.Whatever
Now press the return key.
Tell us what the file command reports about the file you just told it to examine.
You’re looking at what amounts to an unrecognized data file; a binary file. the data in the file might be a document, or an executable app, or who-knows-what.
Want macOS to tell you about the file format?
Launch Terminal app.
Type the following “file “ command, followed by a space or two, and do not press the return key:
file
Go back to the GUI, and drag one of the downloaded files into the Terminal app window.
That’ll drag the filename and its path into the command. Not the file itself, but the file specification.
You’ll get something that looks like the following command, but with different text mixed together with the slashes:
file /Users/mrhoffman/Downloads/MysteryFile.Whatever
Now press the return key.
Tell us what the file command reports about the file you just told it to examine.
If you know the type of file these are, then "Get Info" on it and select which app you want to open it. If you want that app to open all of those particular types of files, then make sure to select the box beneath the app selection.
If you don't know which app you want to use, then either right-click or Control-click on the file and select "Open With..." to manually select an app to open the file one time.
If these are actual text files and they are showing as gibberish in Text Edit, then one of these apply:
Not much we can do since we don't know what these files are because we cannot see them or know where they came from.
dorene70 wrote:
The files are all gibberish, so I can't read it.
Your Mac cannot determine the file type.
And we don’t know the file type either.
Gibberish files opening in TextEdit on MacBook Air
