How to change the default app for a file type in macos

Each document or file that you save on your Mac is associated with a specific application in such a way that, when you try to open it, it always does so with that app, and not with another, when you double-click the icon of that file in the Finder. However, it is possible to change the default app that opens a file. For example, so that PowerPoint presentations are always opened with Keynote. Let's see how to do it.

Change the default app you open a file with

Sometimes, you may want an app to be in charge of opening certain files by default. For example, use VLC to open all.avi files instead of QuickTime, which won't play them for you. Or as I said before, open all the presentations you receive or download in Keynote, and thus forget about Power Point.

• In the Finder window, or on the desktop, right-click the file whose default startup application you want to change. From the context menu, select Open With → Other….

• A new window will appear for you to select an app with which to open the selected file. In our example, we are going to select Keynote, despite the fact that, as you see in the image above, it already appears in the conceptual menu because I recently used it precisely for this type of file. Search and select the app you want to use (Keynote, in this case). Check the box “Always open with this application”. Press “Open”.

The selected file will open with the app that you have indicated, but the most important thing is that whenever you want to open those types of macOS files, it will do so by default with the application that you have just indicated.