Mac Set App Default For Files

Jun 19, 2018  Each document that you have on your Mac is associated with a default application which macOS uses to open the file whenever you double-click on its icon in Finder. Nov 11, 2019  If you are a new Mac user and not sure how to make it happen, here’s how to change a file type’s default app when you open it. Change the default app when opening. When you want to change the default app for a file you’re opening, you can do this in a couple of clicks. 1) Right-click or hold Control and click the file. Sep 05, 2019  By default, your Mac will open it with TextEdit, Apple’s built-in simple text-editing app. To change that, Ctrl+click the file in question, then click Get Info. This will bring up a new window. Quickly Open RAR Files On Mac Unfortunately, you can’t open a RAR archive with Mac’s default tools due to the format’s closed proprietary nature. RAR itself is an acronym for Roshal Archive, as it was developed by a Russian software engineer Eugene Roshal. Feb 05, 2020  Mail is likely the default email app on your Mac, but just in case you have others downloaded, you can set the default reader. Here's how: Launch Mail from your dock or the Finder. Click Mail in the menu bar at the top of the screen. Click Preferences. Click the dropdown next to Default Mail Reader. Click the app you'd like to set as the default.

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Compress and unpack any files on Mac with Archiver.

All of us from time to time receive digital archive packages, whether they are downloaded online or get sent over by our friends. Occasionally, we might be even packaging and distributing archives ourselves. But few of us stop and think why exactly do we do this.

In general, archives help us achieve two essential goals: decrease file size and unite a group of files into a single package. The first goal relies heavily on a compression algorithm and thus differs from format to format, whereas the second goal is equally achievable by all popular archivers on the market.

There are literally dozens of archiving formats in existence, but it’s likely that you’ll only ever meet two: ZIP and RAR. ZIP has been around for more than 30 years and is easily readable by your Mac’s default archiving utility. RAR, on the other hand, is a proprietary archiving format that requires a RAR opener for Mac to operate. So how do you open .rar on Mac?

Quickly Open RAR Files On Mac

Unfortunately, you can’t open a RAR archive with Mac’s default tools due to the format’s closed proprietary nature. RAR itself is an acronym for Roshal Archive, as it was developed by a Russian software engineer Eugene Roshal.

In terms of usability, RAR is not as popular as ZIP, but offers a better compression algorithm and, most importantly, works with large files. While ZIP taps out at around 2 GB, RAR can take up to 8 EiB (the number so large it’s practically infinite). The price you pay is having to find and download a sort of WinRAR for Mac utility.

Open any file on Mac

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Start with a well-known RAR extractor for Mac

While the actual WinRAR for Mac doesn’t exist, as it only works on Windows, there is no shortage of archivers that support RAR files.

An example that comes to mind immediately when someone thinks of how to zip a file on Mac is Unarchiver.

Unarchiver is a free simple tool that lets you, well, unarchive hundreds of file formats, including RAR. Originally developed by Dag Agren over 10 years ago, it quickly gained millions of users due to its unobtrusive interface and fast performance. To open .rar on Mac with Unarchiver:

For
  1. Download the app and place it in the Applications folder
  2. Right-click on the archive you need to unpack and choose Open With > The Unarchiver
  3. The files will unpack in the same folder

Due to its simplicity, however, Unarchiver omits a lot of features. For instance, it doesn’t itself compress files and doesn’t allow to set passwords or peek inside the zipped folder. So if you’re working with archives on a regular basis, it’s much better to use an actual full-featured unarchiver for Mac.

Use a pro-level Mac unarchiver

When you need to do more than simply find out how to unzip files on Mac, you need to use apps that were designed with all the extra functionality in mind. One of those apps is Archiver.

Archiver can easily open RAR files on Mac, but also create new archives, compress them, encrypt them, and split them into multiple volumes.

Best unarchiver for Mac

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Starting with Archiver is a no-brainer due to its intuitive drag-and-drop interface:

  1. Launch Archiver from Applications
  2. Drop your RAR archive right onto the app’s window
  3. You’ll see all the files in the archive. Optionally, you can just drag some of the files onto your Desktop even without unarchiving.
  4. To open .rar on Mac, simply choose Extract, select the destination, and then click Done

Alternatively, if you want to create a RAR archive:

  1. Drop files onto the Archiver window and click Archive
  2. Choose RAR out of the formats offered. Select the name and compression level.
  3. Optionally check the Encrypt box and set a password for your archive
  4. Click Archive

Another neat Archiver feature is the ability to split your archives into multiple volumes. This is handy when you need to send a large file, like a movie, over email. To do that, simply choose Split when adding your archive to the app and select the appropriate size for each resulting archive.

Build your unarchiving workflow

Without a doubt, Archiver significantly expands on the functionality of the Unarchiver. But it’s still mostly suited for one-off files and archives. If your line of work requires you to use archives on a daily basis, you need a RAR opener for Mac that supports presets, such as BetterZip.

Mac Set App Default For Files Download

BetterZip is a robust Mac unarchiver that supports all the same functionality when compared to Archive, with one significant distinction — preset workflows.

With BetterZip, it’s easy to create complex action sequences for all kinds of archives and process dozens of them in seconds. To create your own preset with BetterZip:

  1. Go Preferences > Presets
  2. Explore the saved presets in Extract and Saved
  3. Add new ones by clicking the plus sign

Mac Set App Default For Files Mac

To use a preset, simply drop the files onto BetterZip and then click and hold either Save or Extract button in the top menu to select one of the available options.

Zip and unzip files with ease

Now you that know how to unzip a file on Mac and even create your own archiving presets, you can enjoy the benefits of archiving files more often. It’s generally a good idea to archive files whenever you send them, sort of like putting your parcel in a safe package before going to the post office in real life.

Archived files are less susceptible to errors and damage, and more likely to arrive to your recipient in mind condition: especially when it concerns folders with multiple files and media, such as movies and music.

Use a full-featured RAR extractor for Mac that executes the archiving tasks quickly and gives you many more archiving options overall. Whether you choose Archiver or BetterZip, how to open RAR files on Mac, or in fact any files, won’t be a problem anymore.

Best of all, both Archiver and BetterZip are available for you to try free on Setapp, a platform of more than 150 top Mac apps that solve any problem you happen to come across. Pack your files and send them away!

Any time a user installs a new application on a Mac, it becomes the default Mac app for that file type. For example, PDF files open by default in the Mac Preview app. However, if a user downloads and installs Adobe’s Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat DC, the default file type will change so that all PDF files will open with Adobe Acrobat. We’ll show users how to take control of what apps open when they double-click a certain file type. Changing the Default Mac app is a simple procedure that will save users some time and avoid annoyances.

Why Change Default Mac App for a File Type

Why would you want to change a default Mac app for a file type? Let’s say you want to open a video file using VLC Media player instead of Apple’s QuickTime Player. Maybe you want all JPG picture files to open in a photo editor instead of OS X Preview.

These and other file types open in a default program set by the operating system. The installation procedure of some apps will change the default. They’re not supposed to change the default Mac app for a file type without the user’s agreement. However, you may not see the dialog box that asks for permission. Likewise, the programmer may not ask for the permission in a way that makes it clear that the program’s changing your default app. Follow the steps below to fix this or change it.

How to Change Default Mac App for Any File Type

Find a file of the type you want to change the default mac app for by opening Finder. Some file types won’t show you the extension that identifies the type of file. The extension is the ending of the file. For example a picture file type known as JPEG has a file ending of JPG. So a file might carry the name photo0003.jpg. Notice the three letters after the period are JPG. Other common file types you may wish to change include …

It features support for operators that allow you to specify phrases, words to insist on (+), and words to ignore (-). Find and replace app for mac. This powerful utility lets you perform text searches on your local computer as if you were using an Internet search engine. Specify your search-and-replace strings, then choose the action you'd like to take: delete the search string, insert text before or after it, or simply replace it. The program also allows you to replace simple or multiline strings. You can easily apply filespec, date, and size filters to speed up the search.

  • PDF – portable document format also called Acrobat files, which open in Preview by default
  • GIF – another image format called Graphics Interchange Format which opens in Preview by default
  • DOC – a document file often associated with Word or some other word processor
  • DOCX – a proprietary Microsoft Word format
  • MP3 – music files, which open in iTunes by default
  • M4V – a video format
  • MP4 – another video format
  • MOV – movie files, which open in QuickTime by default

When a user opens Finder and looks at a file, they might not see these endings. To make sure you can see yours, open Finder and then, from the Finder menu at the top left select Preferences. You can also use the keyboard shortcut COMMAND + , (the comma).

Inside the ensuing dialog box open the Advanced tab by clicking Advanced in the top right corner of the box.

Click to put a check mark in Show all filename extensions in that dialog box. Exit the box by clicking the red button in the upper left corner. From now on you’ll see all the file extensions of every file in Finder.

Now search for a file with the extension you want to change. For example, you installed Acrobat and the installation procedure moved the default app from the OS X Preview app to Adobe Acrobat DC. You don’t want to open the Adobe Acrobat document creator program from Creative Cloud suite just to view a PDF file. Instead, you want to see all PDF files in Preview. Find a PDF file stored on your computer using Finder. If you can’t find one use the search box in Finder. It’s in the upper right corner (see below).

Once you find a file, right-click on the file and choose Get Info from the menu that pops up.

Default Apps On Mac

A dialog box will open. Look for the Open With section. You’ll see a drop down box.

The drop down box will list all the OS X apps that can handle that file type. Choose the preferred program and it will instantly change the default Mac app for that file type.

The Change All button will change all file types for that app so that any other customizations will revert back to defaults. For example, all file types that normally open with Microsoft Word will change back to opening with Word. If you changed one of the types, like the DOC file format making it open in another word processor while keeping DOCX files assigned to Word, clicking Change All will change both back to Word. So pick it only when you know what you’re doing.

You may want to go back into Finder’s preferences to hide file extensions after you finish because all apps will start showing their .app file extension. If seeing the .app extension annoys you follow the steps above to hide the extensions in Finder Preferences.

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