EPS issue on MacOS Sequoia

[default27403662f0cxi8]

Mac OS Sequoia has defaulting EPS files to Photoshop and won't let me set Illustrator as the default App to open EPS Files. I get this popup:

Anybody know how to fix this?

Why Adobe and Apple continue to make stuff more fricken annoying and complicated?! 

[Anubhav M]

Hello @default27403662f0cxi8,

Thanks for reaching out. Would you mind confirming the version of the OS/Illustrator and if Illustrator mainly behaves this way with specific files so I can better assist you?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[Monika Gause]

You're not alone.

Please check out this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/1ekv55h/cant_right_click_open_app_on_macos_sequoia/?rdt=49493

It has some guidance and hacks. Apple has identified EPS files as a source of malware (which they might be in some rare cases). Also: when you circumvent the system's security measures, you might also open doors to really bad actors.

[Conrad_C]

I’m guessing that this might not be anything Adobe changed, and might be related to Apple recently deprecating Adobe PostScript for security reasons. Although Adobe PostScript was a major driver in launching digital print publishing with the Apple Mac almost 40 years ago, PostScript originated at a time where nobody worried about malware and the World Wide Web didn’t exist to spread malware so fast. Apple has been taking a hard line on malware, and when they reviewed PostScript and its serious known security vulnerabilities, Apple decided to start dropping support for all forms of PostScript. Fortunately, PDF does almost everything PostScript used to, using modern code that works much better, so it was no problem for Apple and Adobe to dig in with PDF instead of EPS. Some details:

PostScript’s sudden death in Sonoma (Howard Oakley)

View .ps and .eps files on Mac (Apple) “macOS no longer includes built-in support for viewing PostScript (.ps) and Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) files. Apps that support these files are available from other developers on the App Store and elsewhere.”
Sonoma puts the last nail in the coffin for PostScript on macOS (AppleInsider) “PostScript's demise on the Mac shouldn't come as a shock to anyone who's been paying attention. The writing has been on the wall for years…”

EPS is, of course, Encapsulated PostScript. It’s the same old insecure PostScript code, the only difference is that it’s “encapsulated” in a wrapper (to be easy for other apps to import), and with a bitmap preview stuck on it. By today’s standards, EPS is a pretty awful format and should not be anyone’s first choice. Adobe understood this a long time ago, which is why they upgraded Illustrator format to basically be PDF, and then upgraded other Adobe apps so that they could directly import .AI (PDF) format and not need EPS in any way in the future. I personally haven’t used EPS in years.

Which leads to my next question: With EPS being so antiquated and so insecure that Apple and Adobe are running away from it as fast as they can, why do you need EPS files? Are you running software that specifically requires EPS files, or is it cheap EPS clip art, old graphics archives, or something else?

Because the long term solution is to switch to a better vector format than EPS, and convert old EPS graphics to something better using an app like Illustrator. Today, that would be vector formats such as Illustrator .AI format, PDF, and SVG. 

[default27403662f0cxi8]

I would love to stop using EPS files but stock websites still use EPS and many business still save and send thier brand files as EPS. It's absurd that EPS deafult app is now photoshop instead of illustrator and that I can't change it. When opening EPS files with photoshop, they don't have that security popup. So now I have to go thru extra steps to open EPS files, slowing down my workflow. which is already slowed down by my other issue. of illustrator being completely laggy and slow on an M2 Max Mac Studio with 32GB Ram. Like taking over 5 to 10 seconds to process a minor function or change, like moving and object or ungrouping. I can little watch this little x path tick across the screen as it slowly process my change.

[Monika Gause]

About the EPS thing please complain to Apple or change the system.

About the lagginess: please boot into Safe Mode and see if it is better there. If it is, you have to find the issue in your system extensions and third party apps or maybe the number of fonts that are installed.