How to open a file with a different program on your Mac

  • October 1, 2011
  • Read 64,620 times
 

When you double-click a file on your Mac, the operating system will automatically open the file using the program assigned to that type of file. It is possible, though, to open the file using another program if you wish. To open a file on your Mac using a different program, navigate to the file you wish to open and right-click on it to see the file menu as shown below.

 

File's property menu

When the file menu opens, click on the Open With option as shown in the image above. This will open the Open With submenu as shown in the image below.

Open With Sub Menu

This submenu contains other programs that the Mac OS thinks could properly open the file and manipulate it in some way. If the program you wish to use is listed, then simply select it from this submenu and the file will open using that program.

On the other hand, if the program that you wish to use is not listed, then click on the Other... menu option. This will then open the Choose Application dialog where you can select a different application that you wish to use to open the file as shown in the image below.

 

Choose Application dialog

 

As you can see from the image above, the Choose Application dialog will display a list of applications that you can choose to open this file with. By default, this dialog will only show Recommended Applications, which means that you will only be able to select the applications that are in bold. If you wish to select a different application than a recommended one, you can change the Enable option to All Applications. This will then allow you to select any application you wish.

Once you have determined the application you wish to use, select it by left-clicking on it once. If you want to make this application always open this particular file, then also put a check mark in the Always Open With check box. Then click on the Open button.

The file will now open with the selected application. If you have any questions about this process please feel free to post them in our Mac OS Forum.

Users who read this also read:

  • What is a File Extension? Image
    What is a File Extension?

    A file extension, or file name extension, is the letters immediately shown after the last period in a file name. For example, the file extension.txt has an extension of .txt. This extension allows the operating system to know what type of file it is and what program to run when you double-click on it. There are no particular rules regarding how an extension should be formatted other than it must ...

  • How to see hidden files on a Mac Image
    How to see hidden files on a Mac

    Any files that start with a period on a Mac are considered hidden files in the Mac OS and are not visible from within the Finder. You can see these hidden files from within the Terminal utility by using the ls -a command, but that is not convenient when you wish to see all files on your computer through the Finder. This tutorial will describe how to make it so that all files on your Mac are ...

  • How to add new apps to your iPad or iPhone Dock Image
    How to add new apps to your iPad or iPhone Dock

    At the bottom of your iPhone or iPad screen are a series of icons that appear on every screen you switch to. This is consider the dock and can be used to hold your most used applications so that they are easily accessible from every screen. There is a limitation, though, as to how many icons you can dock at the bottom of the screen without using special apps. For the iPad you can dock 6 icons, ...

  • How to show filename extensions on a Mac Image
    How to show filename extensions on a Mac

    The default setting for Mac OS is to not display a file's extension. For those who want to view the full filename, rather than having the extension removed automatically , this tutorial will provide information on how to make it so you view the extensions for all files on your computer or for just an individual one.

  • How to restore your default file extension associations in Mac OS Image
    How to restore your default file extension associations in Mac OS

    In the Mac OS it is possible to change the default program the operating system will use to open a file when you double-click on it. After you have changed this file association, though, you may want to reset this file association back to the default program that Mac OS was configured with when it was installed. This tutorial will explain how to restore your default file associations in Mac OS.

 

Comments:

blog comments powered by Disqus
search tutorials
Mandiant mWise Conference 2024

Login