How to set a default application to open a file in mac

applicationsfindertextedit

In a mac (10.14.6) I want to set the default application to files of type 'err' (i.e. files like test.err or output.err) to be TextEdit.

For that I follow the description given here, and set the default application to be TextEdit.

However, when I double click on that exact same file in the finder, I see the following text box:

So what am I missing? Why does it nor work?

Best Answer

I don't know why the existing two methods are not working - they both should.

Alternatively try RCDefaultApp which as far as I'm aware still works in Catalina. [I can only test up to Mojave.]

I added this manually using the + button & it actually suggested TextEdit itself. I'd suggest also checking 'Override file creator' & see if that might help.

Related Solutions

Change the default action to open executable files in the editor instead of Terminal

Run plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.launchservices.plist and add an entry like this under LSHandlers:

<dict>
    <key>LSHandlerContentType</key>
    <string>public.unix-executable</string>
    <key>LSHandlerRoleAll</key>
    <string>com.macromates.textmate</string>
</dict>

You can also change the default application for normal files with no extension:

<dict>
    <key>LSHandlerContentType</key>
    <string>public.plain-text</string>
    <key>LSHandlerRoleAll</key>
    <string>com.macromates.textmate</string>
</dict>

You can apply the changes by restarting. Just logging out and back in doesn't seem to work. You could also rebuild the Launch Services database, but it has the side-effect that the warnings about opening applications for the first time are shown again.

Another option is to add something like this to a duti configuration file:

com.macromates.textmate public.unix-executable all
com.macromates.textmate public.plain-text all

To make this question more searchable, here is the error message Finder shows when you try to change the default application for executable scripts:

The operation can’t be completed.

An unexpected error occurred (error code -50).

How to clear the application used to open a file, i.e. set it to none

The few files I had this problem with all happened to have their executable bit set, and the application the finder wanted to use was Terminal. Turning off the executable bit resolved the problem.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Change the default action to open executable files in the editor instead of Terminal

How to clear the application used to open a file, i.e. set it to none

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