macos
I want to make an application, say VLC, the default player for all the file types it supports, without going through all of them individually.
I might not even know what all the supported formats are (as VLC can read 100s of formats) and still want to set it as the default player for all of them.
I was able to do this using the terminal, with the procedure posted below.
Is there an easier way to do it that doesn't require the user to be a developer?
That is possible with Folder Action.
Means your files have to be in separate folders.
I assume you mean Folders when you say Directory.
As step one lets create a Automator flow for Folder Action.
Step 2 select the folder you want and create the work flow by dragging following in to it. You are done with this step, save it under a name you want for future references.
Step 3: In finder right click on the folder you want this to work on and select Services- Folder Action Setup..
In the pop up window select the file you just created. (yourfile.workflow)
That's it, now all files inside that folder will be opened with specified application, so you can now set that for other folders using the above procedure to set other applications to open same file type. It will do it automagicaly from now on as soon you drop a new file in the folder.
You have to do it manually, because Mavericks won't change the default app automatically, if there is already an app that can open .secure-files.
Follow these instructions and choose your script as app.
Find a file with an extension you want to change the defaults to. Right click on the file to see a menu, and select “Get Info”.
A window appears with the file’s information, see the section called “Open with”
It will display the current application used for this file, use the dropdown box to select you new application. You have to use the “Other” selection to browse for it.
Click on the “Change All” button to apply the change to all files ending with the same file extension.
That’s all.
Best Answer
While RCDefaultApp is a bit old, it still works
This gives you a decent GUI interface to control default apps