Opening trusted CSV from Finder using Excel by default

Your defining macOS as a business O/S doesn't mean that it will now function like Windows has for decades and automatically open documents in Microsoft applications when double-clicked. If Apple's Numbers is installed, that will be the default opening application for CSV files. You can change that simply enough.

Right-click on any CSV file and on the Finder Get Info panel, change the Open With Application to Microsoft Excel. Then click the Change All… button and follow through on it. The next time you double-click any CSV document, it will open in Excel v16.97.1 as mine just did. You can also preview CSV files via Apple's Quick Look.

As for Chrome opening downloaded CSV files in Excel, that may be a Chrome configuration issue, and since I do not use Chrome, cannot assist with it. MacOS is more secure than Windows and you are finding that out with those dialogs about potential malware from what macOS decides is not a trusted source. Might be trusted by you, but not by the operating system security. There is no carte blanche Open Anyway feature in Privacy & Security for all files of a particular type.

No Apple employees participate in these public user-supported communities so any plea to Apple to do anything will not be seen by Apple staff.

diverge wrote:

MacOS is a business OS now.

All Apple products today are meant for single user consumer. macOS and Apple's computers are becoming more & more like an iPhone/iPad.

Apple gave up the business world over a decade ago. While macOS may still retain some of those features, they are slowly being removed or left to rot.

Furthermore, attempts to associate .csv files with Microsoft Excel, using either of the methods below...

Finder > Option-Right Click > Always Open With > Microsoft Excel

• Finder > Right Click > Open With > Other > Microsoft Excel.app > [Check] Always Open With

...will only associate that specific exact file1. with Excel. The next CSV file I download (after manually releasing it from quarantine) will still default to Numbers. This can be seen in the attached screenshot, where the "top" option is Microsoft Excel, but Numbers is still labeled "Default".

You need to also click the "Change All" button so any file with that file type will open with the app selected.

See the following Apple article....Step #4 is critical and seems to be missing from what you have described trying:

Choose an app to open a file on Mac - Apple Support

diverge wrote:

downloaded CSV file in Excel using Finder > Right Click context menu > Open With > Microsoft Excel do not work *until* the file is released from quarantine

Sequoia 15.4.1-15.5 is overprotective for pure data files such as .xmp, .webp, .mod, .dat etc if they happen to contain com.apple.quarantine flag, and it seems to affect also .csv.

A workaround is to open such files via the app > File > Open instead from the Finder. Or change the suffix to .txt, for example. Or for example remove the quarantine flag from all .xmp files in that folder with 'xattr -d com.apple.quarantine *.xmp', or via the Privacy & Security but then it works for that file only.

How to permanently allow opening .webp fi… - Apple Community

Harmless downloaded files can't be opened - Apple Community

p.s. You can generate such new .xmp with the com.apple.quarantine flag in Sequoia (15.5) Photos.app > select image > File > Export > Export Unmodified Original > Export IPTC as XMP.

Then try to open the exported .xmp with BBEdit or TextEdit and you are greeted with an alert: "image.xmp Not Opened. Apple could not verify image.xmp is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy". This did not happen in previous macOS versions. It does not help if you set BBEdit to open all .xmp by default. You can open that .xmp file via Privacy & Security but that does not fix it for other .xmp files.

However, your suggested approach does work, so for that I thank you. Any idea why the approach I described does not work?

It does work for the use case it was designed. Its purpose is to set that particular file to open with that particular app. It has no effect on any similar files.

Changing it in Get Info (Change All…) is the method of changing a particular file type to be opened by a particular app.

I do expect that someone from Apple monitors them to identify bugs or usability issues that they can work on, hence my [perhaps futile] plea. 😉

Why would you expect that? If you spend enough time here, there is way too much noise to find any bugs. They have a program for that and they don't seem to listen there either.

Have you tried highlighting a C-section, doing a get info on it, checking open with… Excel, then checking apply to all ?

Sequoia 15.4.1-15.5 is overprotective for pure data files such as .xmp, .webp, .mod, .dat etc if they happen to contain com.apple.quarantine flag, and it seems to affect also .csv.

FWIW I can open a downloaded .csv even if it has com.apple.quarantine flag ('xattr -l sample.csv' would display more details). But such .xmp files still refuse to open via the Finder.

xattr sample.csv
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemDownloadedDate
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms
com.apple.quarantine

ls -l@ sample.csv
	com.apple.metadata:kMDItemDownloadedDate	     53 
	com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms	    316 
	com.apple.quarantine	     57

Both TextEdit.app and BBEdit can open it via the Finder. After opening with TextEdit the flags above remain the same but after opening with BBEdit com.apple.provenance flag is added:

xattr sample.csv
com.apple.lastuseddate#PS
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemDownloadedDate
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms
com.apple.provenance
com.apple.quarantine

ls -l@ sample.csv
	com.apple.lastuseddate#PS	     16 
	com.apple.metadata:kMDItemDownloadedDate	     53 
	com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms	    316 
	com.apple.provenance	     11 
	com.apple.quarantine	     57

"com.apple.provenance, which can be added to the app bundle folder (with the .app extension) when the quarantine flag is cleared on first run of the app.""

https://eclecticlight.co/2023/03/16/what-is-macos-ventura-doing-tracking-provenance/

https://eclecticlight.co/2023/05/10/how-macos-now-tracks-the-provenance-of-apps/

diverge wrote:

Yes, it worked to associate the file type with Excel. It did not resolve the issue with these files needing to be released from quarantine before they were able to be opened in Excel.

Numbers, however, can still open these files without having to release them from quarantine. This was the subject of the last two paragraphs. Apologies for any confusion.

Must be something else with your setup.

I just changed CSV to open with Excel, downloaded a CSV file and double-clicked to open it and it opened without issue. The Quarantine attribute is set on the file.

I'm using a 2019 version of Excel. Perhaps it is something with the version of Excel you are using.

diverge wrote:

Yes, it worked to associate the file type with Excel.

I'm sorry, but I don't know what that means. Excel itself advertises its compatibility with certain file types. The first time you run Excel, the operating system incorporates those associations the launch services database. From that point forward, when you double-click on one of those types of files in the Finder, it will open said file in Excel.

Now, can you confirm that you now double-click downloaded CSV files and have them open in Excel?

It did not resolve the issue with these files needing to be released from quarantine before they were able to be opened in Excel.

Files do not need to be "released from quarantine". If your system is properly configured, everything will work as it should.

Numbers, however, can still open these files without having to release them from quarantine. This was the subject of the last two paragraphs.

And so can Excel if you want. You just have to configure the system. Since Numbers can already open these files, that is the default. If you install some 3rd party too that can also open CSV files, it becomes your responsibility to change the configuration. It won't be changed automatically.

You have to use Finder to perform a "Get Info" on a CSV file. Change the setting for "Always open with" to Excel. Then, most importantly, click the "Change All" button.

Your display will look slightly different as your default is still Numbers. I changed my defaults a long time ago. I'm not a fan of Numbers.

you can give them feedback using their feedback channels

Product Feedback - Apple

bigger chance of them receiving your input there then here

I'm confused.

In your last reply, you said, in boldface, no less:

your suggested approach does work

But then you went on for a few more paragraphs. So can you clarify? Can you now double-click downloaded CSV files and have them open in Excel?

I just checked myself, and everything works properly - exactly as you describe how you would like it to work.

diverge wrote:

Participation isn't necessary for our observations to be seen, and perhaps even acted upon. While I do understand these are community forums, I do expect that someone from Apple monitors them to identify bugs or usability issues that they can work on, hence my [perhaps futile] plea. 😉

Apple does have a few monitors to ensure that rules of participation are followed, e.g. spam posts are removed.

But for Apple engineering to follow the hundreds of posts in myriad categories that come in every minute and track or analyze them would be an enormous effort. The iPhone forum itself has posts every few seconds. Instead, Apple lets the posters "crowd source" their questions and it seems to work reasonably well most of the time.