Default application issue?

[EMKoper]

Recently [for some unknown reason] my default application for opening .pdf documents changed to Acrobat (PM MDD, OS 10.4.2). I like to use Preview, but when I right click on something, Preview is not an "open with" option. When I select "open with other", Preview is "grayed out" indicating it isn't a valid application to open .pdf files with. I can click to over-ride this though OSX thinks it isn't a good app to use. Questions:

1) How to tell OSX it is a valid app to open .pdf files?
2) How to set it as the default for all .pdf files in this case? If I select (from the info screen for a file) Open With ... Change All ... it won't stick and jumps to ColorSync as the default app.

Same issue with .jpg and .tiff and ColorSync ...

Any advice?

 

[slooksterPSV]

Recently [for some unknown reason] my default application for opening .pdf documents changed to Acrobat (PM MDD, OS 10.4.2). I like to use Preview, but when I right click on something, Preview is not an "open with" option. When I select "open with other", Preview is "grayed out" indicating it isn't a valid application to open .pdf files with. I can click to over-ride this though OSX thinks it isn't a good app to use. Questions:

1) How to tell OSX it is a valid app to open .pdf files?
2) How to set it as the default for all .pdf files in this case? If I select (from the info screen for a file) Open With ... Change All ... it won't stick and jumps to ColorSync as the default app.

Same issue with .jpg and .tiff and ColorSync ...

Any advice?

First thing to do is repair permissions. Next is restart. Finally, CTRL+Click on the file the pdf it is. And hold down ALT and choose your preview app. If that doens't work. Delete your Preferences folder in your Library on your user - mine is /Users/sbarn/Library/Preferences that may help as well. In Adobe Acrobat I think there is an option to make it to where PDF files will never open in that unless you specify.

 

[EMKoper]

... CTRL+Click on the file the pdf it is. And hold down ALT and choose your preview app...

Cool trick... better than navigating the drop down windows...

I did trash the preferences and no luck. Same behavior. The key here seems that OSX doesn't think Preview is an application able to open any file type... using the "open with" it is grayed out for .pdf or .jpg or any other file type it can normally be associated with.

 

[mkrishnan]

If you look at your attachment, the icon for the Preview.app is not even right...I think there's something corrupted about your copy of Preview. Any way you can either get a copy off another computer or use Pacifist to re-install it from your install DVD?

 

[eva01]

reinstall preview

but you can also instead of doing the recommended apps, do all apps and choose preview

[yay]
ahahahha vB 3.5 gives links to attachments now YAY[/yay]

 

[EMKoper]

... instead of doing the recommended apps, do all apps and choose preview ...

This does work the way you described, but OSX apparently won't let a non-recommended app be the default app for all files of that type (as you can set through the Get Info menu). It does work on a file-by-file basis, though.

I will try to reinstall from DVD...

 

[EMKoper]

... get a copy off another computer or use Pacifist to re-install it ...

Great, I copied over from my laptop and everything is now working fine--Strange! Thanks for the help/idea.

 

[mkrishnan]

Now that your issue is resolved, please allow me to threadjack. I am having a strange, but similar issue.

When I create Excel files, they are properly associated with Excel. When I send them with Mail.app, they also continue to be properly associated with Excel. But if I receive Excel files from others, they are associated with SPSS instead of Excel! In fact, it seems that some older received e-mails, from before this issue, now have the files associated with SPSS and not Excel (they did not when I received them). But my sent e-mails in Mail.app still associate properly.

Something similar happens with certain media files, which are re-associated from Windows Media Player to VLC.

The weird thing is that the issue only occurs in received Mail.app mail -- I have the proper association on my computer.

I tried these two things:

- Repair permissions

- Drag file to desktop, close Mail, re-associate the file with "always open..." checked, and then re-open Mail -- the file has the correct association on the desktop, but not in Mail.

Anyone have any ideas?