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RogerCS
Participant
November 16, 2017
Answered

Why does everything want to open in Illustrator?

  • November 16, 2017
  • 22 replies
  • 29071 views

Since October 2017 it seems Adobe Illustrator has made itself the default application for opening everything (I'm on a Mac running Adobe CC 2015 version)?

 

PNG screen grabs - double click they now open in Illustrator instead of Preview

PDF files - double click they now open in Illustrator instead of Acrobat

The same applies to TXT files, DOC files, PSD files, HTML files... even if I try to 'View Source' of an email in Outlook - it always opens it (or tries to) in Illustrator.

 

I tried the advice of selecting the file on the desktop, select Apple and 'i' to view document info, and then changing the default application back to what it should be (and selecting 'Change All' so all similar files default the same) - which works for a few days, but then it all defaults back to Illustrator again!

 

Perhaps I'm inadvertently doing this somehow?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Monika Gause

Monika,

Thanks a lot for your answer !

i already Repaired the Launch Database with Onyx several time. But as soon as i restart my computer the problem appear again and again.

So this trick doesn't solve the problem at all...


There are a couple of other things you might need to do, such as: wrong icons and OSX doesnt know what program to... | Communities  and maybe even more. I have never had an issue with that, so I never needed to do it.

Bottom line is: this is not an Illustrator issue, but a Finder issue. It happens with other apps as well. You will need to answer this question on an Apple forum, where you will find other people who could solve it.

22 replies

Participant
January 11, 2018

Hi. I saw this post and was terribly excited, because I have had this same problem, with Illustrator becoming the default for a lot of different files (.pdf, .jpg, .txt, etc). But now that I've read it, this hasn't actually been answered. That link from above is just a basic function that most know how to do on OSX, including me. I've done it maybe 100 times now. It still reverts back to being Illustrator as the default after a few openings. Does anyone have any recent updates since November? Please let me know, this is driving me crazy.

AshutoshChaturvedi
Community Manager
Community Manager
November 16, 2017

not sure if I understand the issue. Since you said you are using CC 2015 version did you install the October 2017? I can assure Illustrator installer does not change file associations of txt, doc, psd or html files.

I am not sure what changed things on your machine, It is very easy to fix this, however : macOS Sierra: Choose an app to open a file

Participant
January 18, 2018

Yes it does open those files and it changes them to Illustrator. Now programs that don't recognize .ai files don't recognize files EVEN THOUGH they have .pdf file endings and EVEN THOUGH I scan them the same HP scanner I have used for at least two years and  which never gave me a problem before this month. This is an Illustrator issue judging by the people below who have the same problem.

Participant
January 29, 2018

I used the following instructions found on the Apple forum (the Official Apple Support Commmunity link Monika posted above): Default app opener may be a corrupt preference file. So in Finder, click on Go in the menubar, click on Go To Folder and enter this text ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist, click Go. A Finder window will open up with the file highlighted. move this file to the Trash, don't empty the trash. Restart your mac, open the info for a jpeg image, select Preview as the default app to open it and click on Change All. Now restart you mac again and see if these settings have stuck.

The files now open in PREVIEW as I want them to. I've scanned files in and they seem to be okay. But I hesitate to mark this problem solved until I use Illustrator again and see if the problem reoccurs.