MacOS – How to change the default programs that open Outlook email attachments

applicationsdefaultsmacosms office

On my MacOS Catalina I chose already to always open JSON files with VSCode. This works from Finder.

But from Outlook (for Mac v16.35), when I get receive an email with a JSON attachment, the file icon shows the Xcode icon and the Open context menu or the double click on the attachment open Xcode.

How can I change the default programs such that even Outlook opens it using my system default application for that file.

I tried and did not work:

restarting Outlook after making VScode the default application for JSON files

Best Answer

I found the answer when reading this post.

Choosing Always Open With in the Open With -> Other... for one file applies this default application ONLY to this file and it is not a system wide setting. To update the system default application for all files with a certain extension do:

open the Finder context menu item Get Info
in the Open with section you must select the application to open this file with
to apply this setting for all other files with the same extension, there is the Change All... button below the application dropdown.

The confusion might be made because in Windows in place of the Always Open With MacOS option, you have the Always use this app to open .ext files (where ext is the extension of the file).

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).

IPad – How to open Outlook .msg files on the iPad

You don't need an additional app. You can either sync your email messages to your iPad from your computer - instructions are in the user's guide as well as here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386

or you can set up your iPad to connect directly to your email provider - instructions also in the user's guide and here:

http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/mail/

If your email service is an Exchange server, I'd recommending setting up your iPad to talk directly to the server. Then your mail, calendar and contacts, if you wish it so, will synchronize automatically without you having to sync with your computer.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

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

IPad – How to open Outlook .msg files on the iPad

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