Question regarding the Mac OS X filesystem

[aalberto]

Hi. I just finished installing and configuring MacOS X Tiger and all of the software that I plan to use.

Here's my dilemma: Say I'm working from QuarkXPress in MacOS X. I save the document. Being a Windows user (not yet former, as I use PCs at work), I give it a file name and append the ".qxd" extension. It saves. However, when I look at the file in the directory listing, its icon shows up as a regular piece of paper (when I worked under MacOS 9, I was used to seeing the program's icon assigned to a given document). My concern is that I can't tell visually (except by extension - are extensions even necessary?) what program created what file. Is this normal? Also, can I save files in MacOS X, put them on CD, and open them in MacOS 9?

BTW, hard drive is formatted as "MacOS Extended (Journaled)" (or something to that effect - can't remember right now) and working out of MacOS X exclusively (no classic mode).

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[SummerBreeze]

However, when I look at the file in the directory listing, its icon shows up as a regular piece of paper

In my experience all my .doc files turn up as pieces of paper, while music files have a music icon and image files show up with a little image icon. I don't use Quark, I don't know if the piece of paper thing is normal or not. Maybe someone around here who is smarter than me can tell you how to change it.

are extensions even necessary?

Yes and no. Your mac doesn't need the extension to figure out how to open the file, but if you want to share files with Windows computers, you have to add the extension. I usually just add it, in case someone wants it later.

Also, can I save files in MacOS X, put them on CD, and open them in MacOS 9?

Sure, as long as you have the program that opens them on Mac OS 9. I've sucessfully shared .psd files between OS X, OS 9.2 and Windows XP. Programs can't really be shared between these three operating systems, but files don't usually have a problem.

 

[baleensavage]

I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong)that OS X assigns icons based on preferences set by application installers. It's possible that Quark's installer didn't update this.

One thing you could try is to highlight a Quark file in the Finder and press Command and "I" to get info for the file. On the list should be "Open with application." Change this to Quark, then push the "Open all with" button. Wait a few minutes and/or log out and back in and that might fix your problem.

 

[aalberto]

I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong)that OS X assigns icons based on preferences set by application installers. It's possible that Quark's installer didn't update this.

One thing you could try is to highlight a Quark file in the Finder and press Command and "I" to get info for the file. On the list should be "Open with application." Change this to Quark, then push the "Open all with" button. Wait a few minutes and/or log out and back in and that might fix your problem.

Thank you for your help. I just now noticed that the program assigns the appropriate icon properly (I'm running QuarkXPress 6.5, and I had to save as a version 6 file). I'm glad that I should be able to transfer files from my MacOS X system to a computer using MacOS 9.

 

[Blue Velvet]

BTW: The file extension for Quark 6.x projects is .qxp

When saving down to v5, then use the .qxd extension if you need to take it to a PC.