An "Open With..." menu for OS X

whyatt thrashwhyatt thrash
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
I dunno if this is old news to you guys, but I just found this app that reinstates the much-missed "Open with..." menu-item which win-users have been spoiled with for years. There were several CMM-plugins for this functionality in OS 9, but it seems some good soul have determined to be the relief of my unbearable urge and make one for X. So if any of you have missed the app too, check out the link, install and enjoy.



<a href="http://www.brockerhoff.net/zingg/index.html"; target="_blank">http://www.brockerhoff.net/zingg/index.html</a>;

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member
    We have never needed an Open With... menu partly because you can drag a file on top of an icon and open it with that application. Any application that is capable of translating the file will become selected when you move the file on top of it, even with the applications residing in the dock. Therefore Open with is not necessary.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    addisonaddison Posts: 1,185member
    Ok well when I double click a word document which is an email attachment, it automatically open "Classic Word 2001".



    How do I make it use "Word X"?
  • Reply 2 of 12
    whyatt thrashwhyatt thrash Posts: 421member
    And you keep all apps that are capable of opening a file in the Dock at all times? You must have a cluttered Dock...



    "Open With..." is awesome because it eliminates the need for having visible references to apps to use those apps to open a file. I don't want to have to have Dropstuff in the Dock just to be able to compress files from anywhere in the file structure. Or Preview to open Photoshop Jpegs.



    I love the app, but maybe I'm weird... *shrugs*
  • Reply 4 of 12
    a holcka holck Posts: 20member
    I use Zingg!
  • Reply 5 of 12
    whyatt thrashwhyatt thrash Posts: 421member
    Pepper: Try getting info on a Classic .doc file (selecting it in the finder and pressing Command-I), then select "Open with application" from the popup-menu. There is a button there that will probably show your classic Word-icon. Click the button and choose "other..." and browse and choose your Word X application. Then click "Change all..." in the "Get info" window and you're done!
  • Reply 6 of 12
    neutrino23neutrino23 Posts: 1,562member
    You can easily implement this in AppleScript. Just make a droplet that tells a given application to open whatever gets dropped onto it. I've used that to get around OS X's idea of what should be opened by what.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    noahjnoahj Posts: 4,503member
    You also get this functionality and a lot more interesting stuff with SNAX. I actually sat down and used SNAX last night for the first time and I must say I like the IDEA. It is however really slow on my G4 400 1.1GB. I like how you can change priveleges on the fly in the 'browser'. How you can CHMOD files graphically. How you can copy and paste files. And a few of the many other things it does. Make it a bit faster and I might buy it. For now it is an interesting piece of slow software that has my attention and nothing more.
  • Reply 8 of 12
    mithrasmithras Posts: 165member
    The 10.2 screenshots that people posted awhile ago showed "Open WIth..." contextual menu items. So that'll be nice.



    By the way, I think the OS X way to change document's associated apps is brilliant. It's so simple, and so effective. It's how it should always be done. Way better than OS 9 (which, I guess, just didn't do that at all), and way better than Windows (a terrifying long list of extensions, and six buttons to click before anything is changed!)
  • Reply 9 of 12
    whyatt thrashwhyatt thrash Posts: 421member
    [quote]Originally posted by Mithras:

    <strong>...By the way, I think the OS X way to change document's associated apps is brilliant...</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Totally agree. The more I use the OS, the more nice little touches I discover that make me appreciate it more.



    Now if it could only start showing acceptable speeds on my 450 MHz G4 I'd be satisfied...
  • Reply 10 of 12
    whyatt thrashwhyatt thrash Posts: 421member
    And Apple, while you're at it why not make nifty little "Compress" and "Decompress" menu items appear at appropriate times? Or, even better, make stuffed archives behave like regular folders as Zip-files do in XP. That OS has some sweet touches too that needs plagiarizing.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    synsyn Posts: 329member
    Stuffit Deluxe does all that.



    However, I don't know how the **** they managed to do that, but when using the contextual menu to compress something, the FINDER does all the work, and is unusable for a while.



    This needs to be fixed.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    whyatt thrashwhyatt thrash Posts: 421member
    [quote]Originally posted by SYN:

    <strong>Stuffit Deluxe does all that.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Yeah, why ask Apple (or any other third-party developer) to make it a feature when I can pay for it? It's not like it would be hard to program for anyone who knew how to make CMM's.



    if (file_extension == .tar|.zip|.sit...)

    \t"decompress" Open with Stuffit Expander

    Else

    \t"compress" Open with Dropstuff



    You get the picture... Totally basic..



    I've been on Mr. Brockerhoff's (developer of Zingg!) back about making one, but he doesn't see the need. <a href="http://mailto:[email protected]"; target="_blank">Help me convince him!</a>



    [ 01-25-2002: Message edited by: Whyatt Thrash ]</p>
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