Open Files with — you choose
Mac Tip #334, 16 April 2008

Sometimes I want to open .html files with my text software so I can edit them. Other times I want to open them into a web browser so I can view them.

Or it may be that I want to choose either Keynote or Powerpoint to open a .ppt file. Or perhaps Pages or MS Word to open a .doc file, Preview or Adobe Reader for a PDF — the list of combinations of file types and software can be very long.

It’s quite common really to want to choose, moment by moment, which application you’ll use to open a particular file.

Of course you can set certain file types to always open with a particular application. I explained how in I’ll open that, Mac Tip #179/19-Jan-2005.

Half a dozen possibilities for opening a photo in jpg format.

But if you want to override that choice and choose a different application to open a file, then you need a different approach. Here are some possibilities:

1. Drag the file onto the icon of the application you want to use — in the Finder or in the Dock.
2. Open the application, choose Open from the File menu, then select the file to open.
3. In the Finder, Right Click or Control Click on the file and choose Open With from the contextual menu that appears. A sub-menu displays some possible applications that may open the file, or choose Other… to bring up a dialog box where you can select an application.

My screenshot shows half a dozen possibilities for opening a photo in jpg format.