How to Change Default App for Files to Open With On Mac

You can choose any compatible app to open files on Mac, just like you do on Mac. However, why would you want to do this?

For example, if you have a .doc or .docx file and your Mac has Pages as well as Microsoft Word application installed, Mac is likely to open that file with Microsoft Word by default. However, Microsoft Word tends to work slow on Mac and it gets stuck now and then that could be quite frustrating. When you open the same file on Mac’s pages app that works smoothly. This is just one case, but there could be various scenarios when you may want to do this. So let’s know how it’s done.

How to change the default app for any certain type of files on macOS or OS X

In this example, I am using a Flash file that is in .swf format. This file always opens with Eltima app on my mac that I don’t like. So I am going to switch, rather change the app and use iSwiff to open all the flash files (.swf files).

• Launch the “Finder” application and right click on the file.
• Hover mouse pointer on the “Open With” option and then select “Other” option

• Now you should have the window with the list of applications to choose from. Only supported applications will be allowed to select. However, if you are sure that there are other applications that support  the file and you are not allowed to select, then select the option “All Application” by clicking on the option where it says “Recommended Application.”

• Select the application that you want to use as the default app for that file extension
• Don’t forget to tick “Always Open With” option. You must tick to choose as a default app, so the next time you don’t need to go through all this.
• Finally, click on the Open option

Don’t forget to read Some Cool Mac Tricks!