Dr. Mac's OS X Tip-of-the-Day  

Ever double-click a document and have the wrong program launch? For example, I like to view PDF's in Acrobat, but OS X likes to display them in Preview.

Here's the fix:

Select a recalcitrant document icon (running in OS X) and Show Info for it (File-->Show Info or Command-I). Choose Open with Application from the pop up menu (If you have a scroll wheel on your mouse you can use it to operate this pop-up menu, which is a great tip in and of itself!), then press on the icon just below the menu, where you see the little down-facing triangle.

That icon is actually a menu. Choose the application you want to open this document. If the application isn't listed in the menu, choose "other" and navigate to the application you want to open the document, then click "Add."

If you want all documents like this one to launch into that same program, click the Change All button.

Now, my PDF files always open in Acrobat; my text files always open in BBEdit; and my TIFF files always open in Corel PHOTO-Paint.

The one proviso is that there's no way to tell for sure if a particular program can open a particular type of document. So, for example, if you use this technique to have Microsoft Excel (a spreadsheet program) open MP3 files (audio document files), you'll get a screen full of garbage. Stick to the recommended choices and you should be OK.

To discuss this tip (or anything you like) in Dr. Mac's OSXFAQ Forum, click here:

Bob LeVitus is a leading authority on Mac OS and the author of 37 books, including Mac OS X For Dummies and The Little iTunes Book.