How to set file opening preference in OS 10.5

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Level 1

4 points

How to set file opening preference in OS 10.5

I have around 1500 Census files which are JPEGS, and they opened nicely with Preview. Today, I loaded most of iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and iWeb). Now, for some reason, every one of those files wants to be opened with Adobe Illustrator which is far from optimal for viewing them. Preview is not even recognized now by the operating system as a means of opening JPEGS, and it refuses to open them even though it is open and running.

Is it possible somewhere in the operating system to specify what piece of software has a preference to open a certain type of file? All of those files which once has as their opening preference Preview have now been converted to Adobe Illustrator.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jun 22, 2011 11:04 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jun 22, 2011 11:07 PM in response to lochnessie39

Select one of the files. Press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. In the Open With section select Preview as your default application then click on the Change All button.

This may not stand because as soon as you open some other jpeg file with Illustrator it may revert back because you cannot assign more than one application as the default for the same file type.

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Answer 2

lochnessie39 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 22, 2011 11:53 PM in response to lochnessie39

Kappy, that did not work. I did a Google search on the subject and learned about an app called RCDefaultApp. I downloaded that and placed it in my Library file as directed. I then closed System Preferences and reopened it. The app showed up on the far left of the "Other" line of System Preferences.

This let me set default apps for each "extension." Sure enough, Illustrator was set to open jpeg, jpg, JPG, JPEG and PNG files. I changed all of them to Preview. Well, it still didn't work. Even though Preview was open and actually allowing me to view one of these files, it would not let me open another one of them.

About ready to tear my hair out, I decided if all else fails restart the computer. That fixed the problem. It appears the opening preferences got returned to their original values. The files now open with Preview.

Interestingly, when I started installing iLife, there was a warning that I would have to restart my computer when the software was loaded. I omitted GarageBand which I don't need. There was never any alert that the software was loaded and I should restart my computer. So, I didn't. Maybe some corruption crept in as a result.

While at it, I also went into Finder preferences and checked the block under Advanced to show all extensions. Quite a few of those census files had none, and they do now.

Preview is working now and is opening all those files. I also tried two small PNGs which I trashed because they would not open, and they work, too. Happiness!!

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