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Removing some "Open with..." apps?

macstatic

macstatic

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 21, 2005
2,059
176
Norway
If I right-click on a file and select "Open with..." I usually get a pretty long list of apps available to open that particular file-type. Problem is that for most files I never use more than a fraction of those apps, so the long list becomes clutter IMHO.

Is there a way I can remove some of those apps? I've searched for help but all I could find was info on how to remove duplicated apps, which isn't the problem (yes, I've tried that as well).
I'm on OSX 10.6.8.
 
macstatic said:
If I right-click on a file and select "Open with..." I usually get a pretty long list of apps available to open that particular file-type. Problem is that for most files I never use more than a fraction of those apps, so the long list becomes clutter IMHO.

Is there a way I can remove some of those apps? I've searched for help but all I could find was info on how to remove duplicated apps, which isn't the problem (yes, I've tried that as well).
I'm on OSX 10.6.8.
Click to expand...

I don't believe there is a way to fix this.
 
How about in later OSX versions (I'm holding off till Mavericks comes out anyway)?

Any idea what decides which apps should be in that list? The apps themselves? I first thought apps were added to the list as I used them to open particular files, but for many apps I haven't even used them yet!
 
macstatic said:
How about in later OSX versions (I'm holding off till Mavericks comes out anyway)?

Any idea what decides which apps should be in that list? The apps themselves? I first thought apps were added to the list as I used them to open particular files, but for many apps I haven't even used them yet!
Click to expand...
Every app declares the file types that it can handle, and this info goes into the LaunchServices database. When you click on a JPEG and select "Open With", then OS X offers you every app that can handle JPEGs. The same when you specify what app opens that file (or is the default handler for that file type).

However, if you find yourself using two or three apps to open the same file types, then there are plenty of other methods to open them than using "Open With".
You could drag them to the Dock or any other icon of the app; you could create a Service to open them in each of the apps you use. There are almost certainly more ways.
 
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