Yes this change seems to have upset a few people! I must admit I preferred the old behaviour where, for example:
General html files were handled by my browser (Firefox) by default - but if I was creating or editing a html file in BBEdit it would open back up in BBEdit. Similarly, Preview was my default jpg file handler - easiest to just check out downloaded images - but if I had been using Graphic Converter to work on the image it would open back up in Graphic Converter, or if I had been editing with Photoshop Elements it would open back up in Elements. To me, it was convenience like this that was part of the "Mac way" that poor Windows users missed. <exit grumpy old fart mode> NEW (RELATED) QUESTION: I am going to wait a while before I think about upgrading to SL (I would need to upgrade a few applications) but I wonder if one of you early adopters could check out one thing for me: A while back I posted about downloaded .csv file no longer displaying in quicklook (original post 22/11/08, follow up through to 28/11/08). I tracked down the problem to a change in how the files downloaded: (as 'kind" = "Microsoft Excel Document" rather than as "kind" = "text") as per my previous post: > I don't have a problem opening the .csv files and Excel is already the default > application to do so - I don't want to open them in a text editor (but could > easily do so if I wanted). > > The problem is how my system is downloading the .csv files: > > They used to download as "kind" = "text" (which a csv file really is) and > quicklook and finder would preview just fine. > > They now download as 'kind" = "Microsoft Excel Document" (which, strictly > speaking, it isn't) and which stops quicklook and finder from previewing them. > > > It's not a major problem - both kinds open fine in Excel - it's just that I > used to be able to quicklook these as they were downloaded - but now I can't > without first converting the file "kind" to "text" - and it annoys me!! I did find an easy workaround to change the downloaded file: >> >> For the files that are already downloaded, I expect that I can eventually >> track down some terminal script to change the file "kind" - in the meantime >> I have no problems opening the files so I can live without the quicklook >> preview. > > This actually proved to be even easier than I thought - Google pointed me to > this automator action: > <http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/changefiletypeandcreator.html > > > > Using the "select file" button on the automator action to select a "working" > csv file populated the "file type" box with "TEXT" and the "creator" box with > "XCEL". > > Then running the automator action on one of the "problem" files resets the > "kind" to "text" and now quicklook and the get info preview pane preview the > .csv file just fine. > > Which just leaves me with the main problem of how to get the .csv files > downloaded with the correct settings in the first place! Well, I never did find a way to change the download behaviour but now, given SL's different take on creator and type codes, I am wondering whether the problem/fix might change - so my question - to any SL users who could check: 1) Does a downloaded .csv file still look the same in "get info" ie: - Get info shows "kind" as "Microsoft Excel Document" and "open with" as "Microsoft Excel" - Get info icon is a blank page icon 2) Does a downloaded.csv file still just show a blank page icon in quicklook (and get info preview). 3) If the answer to 1) & 2) is yes, does changing the "kind" to "text" still solve the problem (ie restore the quicklook view). I'm just wondering how all this ties together! Cheers Neil -- Neil R. Houghton Albany, Western Australia Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 Email: n...@possumology.com on 10/9/09 8:48 AM, Peter Hinchliffe at hinch...@multiline.com.au wrote: > > > On 09/09/2009, at 3:05 PM, Michael Hawkins wrote: > >> >> I regularly receive emails with an attachment in .tif format. >> >> Since Snow Leopard was installed the icons for each page of the >> attachment >> show up in the sidebar in Preview, but I cannot open the pages. >> >> The attachments print from Preview without any difficulty . >> >> If I change the suffix from .tif to .tiff , however, the documents >> open in >> Preview. >> >> Why could this be? >> >> Regards, >> >> Michael Hawkins. >> > > > One downside to Snow Leopard is the way it now interprets filename > extensions. Since its inception, Mac OS has made of use of hidden > "Creator Codes" and "Type Codes" to identify the origin of files. In > this way, a TIFF file created in Photoshop, for example, would always > open automatically in Photoshop, whereas one created with, say, > AppleWorks, would always open automatically in AppleWorks. The > Creator and Type codes would handle it all, and the user was oblivious > to it all. Mac OS was unique among OSes in its use of this metadata. > > In Snow Leopard, it seems Apple have abandoned this approach, and gone > back to the pure UNIX roots of the OS, which has no regard for these > codes at all. There is a comprehensive treatise on the subject at > http://dp.tidbits.com/article/10537 > . If you google "Snow Leopard filenname extensions" you'll find a > wealth of other treatments. > > > -- > > Peter Hinchliffe Apwin Computer Services > FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer > Perth, Western Australia > Phone (618) 9332 6482 Mob 0403 064 948 > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. > > > > > > > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au> > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>
