How To Set Default Apps On A Mac

Whenever you double click on any file on your Mac within the Finder, the operating system will by default find the most suitable app to open it and reveal its contents. Most of the time everything will work without issues, but there are other times when your Mac will either not use the ideal app to open a file or will simply not be able to find a suitable app at all.

Back in the pre-Mac OS X and macOS days, Apple’s System 9 and earlier relied on hidden metadata to associate files with apps. File extensions, those bits of text that follow a period at the end. Apps That Set Themselves As Default Apps There are a few Mac apps that allow you to set them as defaults; Chrome and Firefox are excellent examples of this. If you chose to install RCDefaultApp and visit the Internet tab, you will notice that although Safari may not be your default browser, it is still the default one for other functions. To change the default app for a specific file type, follow these simple steps. Open Finder and navigate to the file you want to open. Right-Click on the file and select “Get Info” or press CMD+i 3. Select the desired app from the dropdown 4.

If you have experienced this issue before and would like to know how to solve it, read along. What causes this issue most of the time is that you might have two or more apps that support the type of file that you want to open.

For Example: Some very frequent culprits of this are archiving apps like Winrar or UnRarX, both of which support very similar file types. Another common occurrence is mix-ups between video players like VLC and Quicktime, with the latter opening files only supported by the former.

What you need to do in order to solve this issue is to change the default app for opening certain types of files, or at least choose a different app from the available ones to open a particular file. Follow these steps to learn how to do just that.

Open File with Different Program

https://omgchris.netlify.app/how-to-delete-an-app-on-mac-completely.html. Step 1: First, start by locating the file you want to open within the Finder.

Step 2: If you want to open the file with a different app than the one set by default only once, then all you have to do is right-click on the file, click on the Open With option and then select the app you want to use from the list of available programs.

Set Default Program for Specific File Types

Step 1: To set a different default app for all files of a certain type, you can also start by locating a file of that type first and then by right-clicking on it. This time though, locate the Get Info option and click on it.

Step 2: This will display the information panel for that particular file. On it, look for the Open with: section located almost at the bottom of the window. If it is not open, click on the small triangle until the information is displayed just like on the screenshot below.

Step 3: There, you will see a dropdown menu that will display all of the apps that support the file and are capable of opening it. Click on this menu and then select the application that you want to use to open that file type from then on.

If you don’t find the app you are looking for on the list, simply click on Other… to look for one within the Applications folder.

Step 4: Once you select the application you want, click on the Change All… button to apply the changes. Then, confirm your selection on the next window.

Once you are done, just close the information panel and you will be set to go. From now on, every time you open any file of that type, it will open in the new application you selected.

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Computers are fully embedded into our lives, both at work and at home. Checking email, organizing calendars, reading documents, shopping online, and surfing the web — all form the backdrop of our everyday. These activities are so commonplace and accessible that it’s easy to overlook the finer points of how your computer performs each task and what apps it uses to help you get the job done.

Apps are computer programs designed to interact with files and create a seamless transition for everything from booting up your Mac to working online. All computers come with a host of apps already installed. For example, computers running macOS come with Safari, made by Apple. This browser is already installed and ready to access the internet.

In other words, Safari is set to “default” browser, which means whenever you click a link to a website, it’ll always open it up using Safari. However, there are lots of other compatible browsers for Mac, and you might find yourself wondering how to change default browser on macOS or looking to fine-tune other default settings.

Why Should I Change Default Applications?

Most of the time, default apps have the basics covered, however you may be itching for a change because they may not be providing the features you need. If you find another app better suited to your needs, it’s best to make the change permanent.

By changing default apps to the ones you prefer, you’ll have more control over how you work with your files and be able to skip the headache of re-opening files with a new app every time, saving you precious minutes. Thankfully, changing default settings is fairly easy.

Changing default apps for specific file types

One upgrade you might consider right away is to change the default PDF viewer on Mac to something like PDFpen, or another advanced PDF reader. PDFs are one of the most common files types encountered daily. Used in contracts, university reading packages, or fillable forms, PDFs are popular for a good reason: any computer can open and read a PDF, and the format holds its layout. No matter what programs were used to create it, a PDF will generally look the same on everyone’s computer.

PDFpen is a great addition to your Mac. It has all the basic tools for editing and note-taking, but is also packed with advanced options for the increasingly paperless world: redaction features, signatures, notations, filling out or editing sections, and even highlighting and searching for certain terms within the document.

Here’s how to change default PDF viewer on Mac to PDFpen:

In your Finder locate a .pdf file and right-click on it
Select Get Info from the dropdown menu
Expand the Open With section and select PDFpen
Once selected, click the Change All button below the dropdown menu. A pop-up will appear asking if you’re sure, click Yes.

Now the change should be implemented for all .pdf files. Test it by returning to the Finder and opening any .pdf. If it launches in PDFpen. you know it has worked. Further, you can use the same steps to set other defaults apps for different kinds of files: instructing all .jpeg files to open with CameraBag Pro, for example.

If you ever need to know how to make Preview default app again, just repeat the steps above but select Preview instead of PDFPen when you reach the Open With selection.

Changing your default browser

You already know what is the default browser for Mac OSX: Safari. And while Safari is a generally excellent option, there are other great browsers for Mac — one of the most popular being Google Chrome. Along with its reputation for being faster than other browsers, Chrome seamlessly syncs with services you may have been using all the time, such as Gmail, Chromecast, or GCal.

Knowing how to change default browser on Mac will never be a challenge. It’s arguably the easiest change to make because all browsers compete to report usage, so whenever they detect they are not being used every time they produce a pop-up asking to be default. This may seem like it makes directions for how to change default browsers obsolete, usually downloading the browser you want and opening it for the first time will set you on the path to default status. But occasionally a careless mis-click will find you on the wrong end of an unwanted Yahoo search bar.

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To make Chrome default browser on Mac, begin by downloading Chrome if you haven’t already. Then follow the directions below according to which operating System your Mac is currently running.

How to make Chrome default browser on macOS Mavericks or earlier:

Launch Safari by clicking the compass icon
Click on the Safari menu in the top-left corner and select Preferences
Navigate to General
Choose Chrome as the default by selecting it from the menu
Close Preferences
Quit Safari

If you don’t see a default option in Preferences, don’t panic. You may need to use different instructions if your Mac is running on El Capitan or Yosemite.

Using OSX 10.8.4., I am having a hard time finding a complete list of all software applications installed on my Mac. Of course, the Launchpad only shows the list of those that have an app shortcut created, excluding those that do not. I also tried holding down the Option key while in the Apple Menu to change About This Mac to System Information, then Software-Installations but that still was. Mac App Store is the simplest way to find and download apps for your Mac. To download apps from the Mac App Store, you need a Mac with OS X 10.6.6 or later. Mac show all apps. How To Show All Files on the Mac. There are two ways to show the hidden files on your Mac. First, the hard way: Using the Terminal. 'Terminal' is a program that advanced users typically use. If you click Go in the apple menu bar (finder), and then you click Utilities, you will come to a folder that has the Terminal application. Sudo find / -iname.app This will display all the apps you have on your computer. From there, you can copy and paste the results into a text file to make it easy to start anew.

How to make Chrome default browser on El Capitan or Yosemite:

Launch System Preferences from the Dock or Finder
Select General from the top left of the window
Find the dropdown next to “Default web browser”
Choose the web browser you'd like to use as the default and close System Preferences

Your preferences will be automatically saved. You can test it by performing a search in Spotlight and clicking a web result. If the site opens in Chrome, you’ll know you have successfully set Chrome as default browser.

Change your default email app

We spend so much time checking, writing, and organizing emails that having an email client designed to save you time is key. With this in mind, you may want to further customize your Mac by selecting a better email client. Much like a PDF reader opens .pdf files and a browser allows you to surf the web, your email client sets up a place for you to easily check and respond to your emails.

While many check their emails in browsers for convenience if they move between computers, a better, more secure option is Canary Mail.

Canary Mail focuses on security and this is what makes it outstanding. In addition, its concept and design are no-nonsense. Canary works with all the email providers you already have and has tools for dealing with volumes of unwanted emails or unused threads in bulk. It also uses algorithms to learn what you need and optimizes your productivity.

Right now, Mail is likely the default email app on your Mac. The steps below outline how to change default program on Mac to a third-party one. If you have some email client already downloaded, you can still use the steps below to change the default email client from Mail. Just sub the name of your app in place of Canary. Just in case, Canary Mail download is available here.

Switch the default email client from Mail to Canary:

Launch Mail by clicking the icon in the Dock or searching for it with Finder
At the top of the screen, click Mail in the menu bar and then Preferences
Select the dropdown next to Default Mail Reader
Choose Canary as the default

This change should take immediate effect.

Switching and customizing your default apps will improve your interactions with your Mac, enhancing how you experience the activities you spend time doing everyday by making them faster and easier.

Once you know how to switch the default apps, you may find yourself customizing other aspects of your computer use. PDFpen and Canary Mail are both offered as free trials from Setapp — a platform for over 150 unique and useful Mac apps — so there is no risk to trying something new. If you don't like it, you can always go back and change the default again at any time.

Apple notes app for windows. Like the above seen note taking softwares for windows and Mac, here is the list of note taking apps for iOS users. Apple Notes; Bear; Simple Note; Best Note taking apps for Android. ColorNote; OneNote; Google Keep; EverNote; SimpleNote; LectureNotes; Omni Notes; Finally given above is the exclusive list of note taking apps for Android users. Read Also: Enable or Disable Superfetch for Windows. Simplenote is a free note taking app for iOS and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store. You get a notes app and you get a notes app. Generally speaking, I think the best notes app for iOS and Mac is.Notes.Yes, good ol’ Apple Notes. Evernote has apps for Windows 7 and 8, Windows 10, Mac, Android, iOS (both iPhone and iPad), Blackberry, and Windows Phone. It also has a fully functional web app and chrome plug-in. No matter what device or platform you're on, you will pretty much always be able to access Evernote. In addition to storing Apple Notes files, Mac and iOS users can also import other files to the Notes app, thereby consolidating documentation within a single location and making such information.

So whether you are running a faster browser, highlighting and making notes in the margin for school, or simply clearing out junk-mail now that you can change default application on macOS you can take control of the finer points of how your Mac runs. Small daily tasks will wrap up faster and look better.