Mail asks for attachment application every time

Question

Mail asks for attachment application every time

Greetings. I just purchased a MacBook Intel Core Duo. When I receive attachments, Mail tell me: "The application (pick one, Word, Excel, iCal...) failed to open the attachment.... Would you like to save the file to iDisk. I can then choose the application, but Mail does not remember application. Is there a way around this? Thanks!!!

MackBook Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on May 29, 2006 4:42 PM

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Answer 1

May 29, 2006 6:11 PM in response to Branford Marsalis

Hello! Try saving one of the files to the desktop. Then click once on the file icon to highlight the file. Then either right click on the file icon or do a "get info" on the file from the file menu. Where it says "open with" and you can select the app you want to open the file. Then right below it the is a box that says "change all". Click it and from then on the correct app should open the file. Tom

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Answer 2

Ferd II

Level 10

104,281 points

May 29, 2006 8:46 PM in response to Branford Marsalis

Branford,

Control + Click on the attachment in the Mail window and follow the Contextual Menu..."Open With." That should open that specific attachment and all subsequent attachments of that type in the application of your choice.

;~)

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Answer 3

May 30, 2006 1:43 PM in response to Ferd II

Thanks Ferd and Thomas for the help. I tried both options and have the same problem. When I used the information window, I get the default program is Word 2004, which I removed from the cpu since i had no intention of buying it. It seems as though Mail looks for 2004, and when it can't find it opens the window I described. Is there a way to make Word X the default program? Thanks in advance.

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Answer 4

Ferd II

Level 10

104,281 points

May 30, 2006 1:56 PM in response to Branford Marsalis

Branford,

The contextual menu which I mentioned also has an "Other..." selection. Just follow the selection path to Word X. Have you tried that?

;~)

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Answer 5

May 31, 2006 6:17 PM in response to Ferd II

Ferd,

I have tried that. While it seems successful, upon trying to open an attachment in mail, I get the same result every time.

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Answer 6

Ferd II

Level 10

104,281 points

May 31, 2006 7:02 PM in response to Branford Marsalis

Branford,

In that case you may want to try the procedures listed in Resetting Launch Services, by Dr. Smoke.

;~)

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Answer 7

Jun 1, 2006 1:44 PM in response to Branford Marsalis

Did you remove the Office 2004 Test Drive version before installing Office X?

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Answer 8

Jun 2, 2006 6:51 PM in response to Allan Sampson

No, I did not. Is that a possible conflict?

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Answer 9

Jun 2, 2006 6:54 PM in response to Branford Marsalis

Additional disaster, folks. The program just shut down twice, each time asking if I wanted to reopen the program. After the 2nd time, the program opened as though I was opening it for the first time. All of my messages are there, but all account info is gone. Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.

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Answer 10

Jun 2, 2006 7:05 PM in response to Branford Marsalis

Yes it is.

Copied from Microslop's Mactopia website.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default.aspx?pid=office2004td

Note: You should remove the Test Drive version of Office 2004 before installing the complete version.

And this applies to Office X also.

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Answer 11

Ferd II

Level 10

104,281 points

Jun 2, 2006 7:28 PM in response to Branford Marsalis

Branford,

The fact that you have new preferences indicates to me that Mail has unexpectedly quit more than once and you have chosen to restore the applications default settings as described in Mac OS X 10.4: Reopening an application after it unexpectedly quits.

It may be beneficial if you posted the most recent Mail Crash log which can be found in your Macintosh HD/Users/yourusername/Library/Logs/CrashReporter Folder. Someone may be able to gather clues from that report.

;~)

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