File Associations Keep Changing

I have a problem where some of my file association keep changing the default program, whenever they feel like it. This is mainly happening with PDF and JPEG files opening in Adobe Software, when the default is set to Preview and always has been.

1. I have not updated any software recently nor I did change these associations to begin with

2. I have changed these via Get Info and checked "Always Open With"

3. I have changed these via OPT + RIGHT CLICK "Always Open With"

I am on OS X 10.11.6

27-Inch iMac Late 2012

Posted on Nov 1, 2017 5:52 PM

Top-ranking reply

menlo

Level 1

8 points

Posted on Mar 18, 2018 7:55 PM

A great discussion on this very issue in Mac Rumors. The consensus is that Firefox Quantum is causing the issues. Somehow they are making API calls to the OS and it is messing up the file associations. Not sure how to stop this. Firefox is a great alternative to Safari. You can set up a lot of the Mozilla addons used for Firefox in Google Chrome, too.

Resolved - something keeps changing my "open with" defaults | MacRumors Forums

Some good news about a workaround I've been trying and it seems to be holding.

Courtesy of https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1437281#c23

"For a workaround, browsing to about:config and setting "security.sandbox.content.level" to 2 (instead of the current default value of 3) and then restarting your browser may work. This makes the security sandbox more permissive, but doesn't completely disable it."

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101 replies

Feb 10, 2018 4:41 AM in response to CountryGirl56

Agreed! I expect it's to do with more system side things being locked down in the newer OSX's so that FF is unable to make those association changes.

No other issues for me, and I've got it all personalized with the chrome.css folder - could not stand the new design and had relied on the Classic Theme Restorer previously.

Feb 10, 2018 4:45 AM in response to CountryGirl56

Was working fine with FF56, but I guess I'll just update to 10.12 - hate having to upgrade when everything is working fine. Always seems to introduce other issues to be overcome, but have to bite the bullet at some stage.

Feb 10, 2018 4:53 AM in response to CountryGirl56

Just to be clear, I rarely drag jpgs from Firefox when I do they have no extension. I've had an issue with a few jpegs opening up in "grab". That may be a result of this.

I mostly have a problem with PDFs switching between opening in Preview to opening in indesign, illustrator or photoshop. I reset, "always open with" and it goes away but comes back several time throughout the day while working. However, I'm not downloading PDF files or anything, so it's very confusing to me.

My firefox is updated I just haven't restarted it, so it is reading as the previous version.

Feb 10, 2018 4:56 AM in response to FormerTeenIdol

FormerTeenIdol wrote:

However, I'm not downloading PDF files or anything, so it's very confusing to me.

The bottom line is, Firefox is no longer 100% compatible with the version of OS X you are running so any number of issues could occur.

Feb 10, 2018 5:50 AM in response to CountryGirl56

Sorry for the confusion, this issue has been going on for a while and I have been through multiple OS updates since originally posting this question. I thought I had posted an update since then about talking with Apple and them suggesting to do the software update.

This put me on the current operating system (High Sierra) and I update regularly, so I've experience this issue from 10.11.6 up to 10.13.2 (now on 10.13.3). I've experience this every single day.

Feb 10, 2018 6:15 AM in response to CountryGirl56

CountryGirl56 wrote:

Please install EtreCheck and post the report.

http://etrecheck.com/

I have ran EtreCheck multiple times on my machine throughout this process and there were never any issues,

I just ran it. The only issue is below:

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[failed] com.apple.updateEFIDesktopPicture-apfs.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2018-01-19)

[not loaded] 39 Apple tasks

[loaded] 174 Apple tasks

[running] 118 Apple tasks

Basically, I was told by Apple it was either a "user issue" and that the only likely solution is that I would have to reinstall the operating system. I was also told that no one else had reported a similar issue. I tried for a few days of having multiple users on my machine, but I never really committed to it.

Feb 10, 2018 6:24 AM in response to CountryGirl56

CountryGirl56 wrote:

Need to see the entire report. Obviously something is wrong so your assumption there are no issues is questionable.

I was referring to the fact that the EtreCheck isn't reporting any issues other than what is listed above.

Hardware Information:ⓘ

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

iMac - model: iMac13,2

1 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-3770) CPU: 4-core

32 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Handoff/Airdrop2: supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information:ⓘ

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX - VRAM: 2 GB

iMac 2560 x 1440

Disk Information:ⓘ

APPLE HDD ST1000DM003 disk1: (1 TB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk1s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

(disk1s2) <not mounted> [CoreStorage Container]: 999.35 GB

Recovery HD (disk1s3 - Journaled HFS+) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

APPLE SSD SM128E disk0: (121.33 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [CoreStorage Container]: 120.99 GB

Boot OS X (disk0s3 - Journaled HFS+) <not mounted> : 134 MB

USB Information:ⓘ

USB20Bus

hub_device

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

USB20Bus

hub_device

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard

USB30Bus

PixArt USB Optical Mouse

Thunderbolt Information:ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Virtual disks:ⓘ

Macintosh HD (disk2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 1.11 TB (607.41 GB free)

Physical disk: disk0s2 120.99 GB Online

Physical disk: disk1s2 999.35 GB Online

System Software:ⓘ

macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D47) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Gatekeeper:ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions:ⓘ

/Applications/Tunnelblick.app

[not loaded] net.tunnelblick.tap (20141104 (Tunnelblick build 4921)) [Lookup]

[not loaded] net.tunnelblick.tun (20141104 (Tunnelblick build 4921)) [Lookup]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.IKMultimedia.driver.StompIO1 (1.0.0) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.eltima.ElmediaPlayer.kext (1.0 - SDK 10.4) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.ikmultimedia.driver.StealthPedal (1.0.0) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.wibu.codemeter.CmUSBMassStorage (1.0.7) [Lookup]

System Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] 9 Apple tasks

[loaded] 172 Apple tasks

[running] 109 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[failed] com.apple.updateEFIDesktopPicture-apfs.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2018-01-19)

[not loaded] 39 Apple tasks

[loaded] 173 Apple tasks

[running] 119 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2016-09-04) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-01) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-01-24) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-09-27) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (? 0 ? - installed (null)) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist (? 68cad67 0 - installed 2012-12-17) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.acc.installer.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-01) [Lookup]

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-01-24) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-01) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-10-12) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-10-24) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (? 6d8cb30e afb3bef0 - installed 2010-08-25) [Lookup]

[not loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (? 0 ? - installed (null)) [Lookup]

[loaded] de.appsolute.mampprohelper.plist (appsolute GmbH - installed 2017-06-09) [Lookup]

[loaded] net.tunnelblick.tunnelblick.tunnelblickd.plist (Jonathan Bullard - installed 2017-12-11) [Lookup]

[loaded] uk.co.canimaansoftware.ClamXavHelper.plist (Mark Allan - installed 2017-12-03) [Lookup]

[loaded] uk.co.canimaansoftware.ClamXavHelperUpdater.plist (Mark Allan - installed 2017-12-03) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents:ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2016-09-04) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-01-24) [Lookup]

[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (Spotify - installed 2018-02-08) [Lookup]

[not loaded] jp.co.canon.Inkjet_Extended_Survey_Agent.plist (? 5e3c5637 49162937 - installed 2012-06-17) [Lookup]

[loaded] net.tunnelblick.tunnelblick.LaunchAtLogin.plist (Jonathan Bullard - installed 2017-12-07) [Lookup]

Internet Plug-ins:ⓘ

AdobeExManDetect: AdobeExManDetect 1.1.0.0 (installed 2013-12-11) [Lookup]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-02-06) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-02-10)

Flash Player: 28.0.0.161 (installed 2018-02-06) [Lookup]

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2018-02-01) [Lookup]

o1dbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 (installed 2015-12-15) [Lookup]

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.0.0 (installed 2010-08-25) [Lookup]

AmazonMP3DownloaderPlugin101750: Unknown

googletalkbrowserplugin: 5.41.3.0 (installed 2015-12-11) [Lookup]

MeetingJoinPlugin: 1.0 (installed 2017-10-24) [Lookup]

3rd Party Preference Panes:ⓘ

Flash Player (installed 2018-02-01) [Lookup]

Time Machine:ⓘ

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 1.11 TB Disk used: 504.41 GB

Destinations:

My Passport [Local]

Total size: 1.00 TB

Total number of backups: 4

Oldest backup: 7/31/16, 10:16 AM

Last backup: 7/31/16, 1:16 PM

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 1.00 TB < (Disk used 504.41 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU:ⓘ

8% WindowServer

5% kernel_task

4% Safari

3% com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

1% launchd

Top Processes by Memory:ⓘ

1.58 GB kernel_task

657 MB softwareupdated

404 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

308 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

260 MB mds_stores

Top Processes by Network Use:ⓘ

Input Output Process name

2 MB 673 KB com.apple.WebKit.Networking

74 KB 32 KB mDNSResponder

34 KB 12 KB Mail

5 KB 4 KB apsd

2 KB 558 B netbiosd

Top Processes by Energy Use:ⓘ

10.92 WindowServer

3.72 com.apple.WebKit.WebContent

2.42 Safari

2.40 mdworker

Virtual Memory Information:ⓘ

24.46 GB Available RAM

12.87 GB Free RAM

7.54 GB Used RAM

11.59 GB Cached files

0 B Swap Used

Software installs (last 30 days):ⓘ

Adobe Flash Player: (installed 2018-02-06)

Install information may not be complete.

Diagnostics Events (last 3 days for minor events):ⓘ

2018-02-10 08:32:57 Last shutdown cause: 3 - Hard shutdown

2018-02-08 06:15:46 com.apple.WebKit.WebContent High CPU use [Open] [Details]

Feb 13, 2018 4:08 AM in response to FormerTeenIdol

Well as I mentioned early on, dragging files from Firefox can be problematic depending on what files and from what sites are involved. However, saving them rather than dragging them avoids the problem as I said. In any case it only affects the file being dragged. It doesn't change the default app for all files.

Leolio_

Level 1

4 points

Feb 13, 2018 6:54 AM in response to FormerTeenIdol

I'm glad you guys confirmed it was Firefox Quantum. I was pretty convinced about that but I had no evidence. And I tried to stop using FF but I really can't.

I'm confident they'll fix it. Pretty sure Quantum was a huge development and they're barely recovering from it / fixing urgent bugs.

Leolio_

Level 1

4 points

Feb 27, 2018 12:39 AM in response to mikeytttt

Downloading Magic Launch right now, thanks for the advice.

I have the issue less and less anyway since I avoid image drag and dropping now. It's a shame though, that's what I loved most when I started using Macs 12 years ago.

Leolio_

Level 1

4 points

Feb 28, 2018 12:16 AM in response to mikeytttt

Wow, this one is huge ! I've changed the FF config as you said, then I've drag-and-dropped an image and it worked just fine ! No file associations changes or so.

My iMac's back to his real self <3

Thanks mikeytttt

Mar 19, 2018 4:59 PM in response to Yorkie29

Just want to say that I am having the same issue. Double clicking a jpg or png opens Photoshop, "Open With" in Info doesn't show Preview unless you click "Other", clicking on "change all" in "info" box doesn't "change all." My friend has the same issue. I love the workaround Yorkie! Dragging the file to Preview in the dock is a time saver, though I agree, this is an issue and a problem and it seems a lot of people have it.

Nov 26, 2017 3:20 PM in response to FormerTeenIdol

Any other ideas, anyone? It is still happening.

Jan 11, 2018 5:04 AM in response to FormerTeenIdol

The issue has started again. I've contact apple support twice now and they cannot help me.

I noticed the issue started again after saving a file from InDesign.

phxgmac

Level 1

4 points

Feb 5, 2018 8:56 AM in response to FormerTeenIdol

Just chiming in here to say that I am having the same problem. Will be watching this thread's progress.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

File Associations Keep Changing