alternative to open-with manager?

[verstaerker]

for some filetypes like jpg i have many, many programs that are able to open them, therefore they appear in the open with menu in macOs. wich makes it very confusing to look at.
In the past there was this open with manager that let me define wich apps appear in the list. Unfortunately this tool doesn't work anymore. Is there a way of that or another app for?

 

[bogdanw]

You can unregister an app from LaunchServices, let's say Chome, with

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -f -u -v /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app; killall Finder

Chrome will no longer appear in the Open With menu for jpg files, but it will also not appear for any other file, like htlm. And it will show up again for all supported files after log out or restart.
The old app, I think you are referring to Open-With Manager by Many Tricks, worked by modifying the Info.plist file of apps and removing the supported files. This method no longer works.

 

[Fishrrman]

There is an old, but still usable (at least up to and including Mojave) preference pane called "rcdefaultapp" which is superior to anything else out there.

It's now discontinued by its author (perhaps it doesn't work with Catalina, but I've stayed away from Catalina), but it's still available here:

RCDefaultApp 2.1 (Mac) - Download

Download RCDefaultApp for Mac - System Preferences pane that offers you control over which applications should be used by default when dealing with certain file types

mac.softpedia.com

I suggest that you download it and give it a try.
It may do "all that you need"...

 

[bogdanw]

There is an old, but still usable (at least up to and including Mojave) preference pane called "rcdefaultapp" which is superior to anything else out there.

It's working in Catalina, but I don't understand how to use it to remove an app from showing up in the Open With menu. It just allows to set the default app.

 

[Fishrrman]

"It's working in Catalina, but I don't understand how to use it to remove an app from showing up in the Open With menu."

My -guess- is that you can't do that.

The reason why is that it's the finder that's "making the guess" for you, and sometimes it just "guesses wrongly".

Like the old saying goes:
"Many are called, but few are chosen".

Not all the options offered by the finder (with the right-click) will work.

 

[bogdanw]

The reason why is that it's the finder that's "making the guess" for you, and sometimes it just "guesses wrongly".

As I explained above, the lsregister service manages app registration and tells Finder. And it's not guesswork, it's based on the CFBundleDocumentTypes values present in the Info.plist of apps.

 

[verstaerker]

You can unregister an app from LaunchServices, let's say Chome, with

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -f -u -v /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app; killall Finder

Chrome will no longer appear in the Open With menu for jpg files, but it will also not appear for any other file, like htlm. And it will show up again for all supported files after log out or restart.
The old app, I think you are referring to Open-With Manager by Many Tricks, worked by modifying the Info.plist file of apps and removing the supported files. This method no longer works.

thank you. It works. It's a bit of work, but okay

 

[verstaerker]

thank you. It works. It's a bit of work, but okay

i'm getting this to work, but the stupid Nik Collection remains after unregistering

also other Apps i already had removed are coming back now

 

[bogdanw]

As I currently have a dual boot system with Mojave and Catalina, here is what I’ve done to prevent Mojave apps from showing up in Catalina’s Open With menu:
- created a file named un.lsregister.command in /Applications/ with the following content

#!/bin/zsh
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/Current/Support/lsregister -r -f -u /Volumes/1014/Applications/*

- created a file named un.lsregister.plist in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ with the following content

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>un.lsregister</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Applications/un.lsregister.command</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

- run launchctl load -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/un.lsregister.plist in Terminal
Now, at every log in, all the apps in /Volumes/1014/Applications/ are removed from the Open With menu.
You could do the same by including individual apps in the command file. I know this is not ideal, but I haven't found a better solution yet.

 

[verstaerker]

strangly this doesn't work at all for

 

[bogdanw]

strangly this doesn't work at all for

After 10 days of testing, I can confirm that it is working...as long as you do not search for the excluded apps in Spotlight or open the Applications folder in Finder
In my case, that's fine because I excluded the Mojave Applications folder from Spotlight searches.
In your case ... I don't know what can be done.