How to change which app opens a file type on a Mac

howtosimply.com/guides/how-to-change-which-app-opens-a-file-type-on-a-mac/ · Checked 3 October 2026 · MacBook Pro · macOS Tahoe 26

4 of 6 steps with real screenshots · 1 official source below

Device

Mac

Shown on

macOS Tahoe 26 (MacBook Pro)

App

Finder

Real screenshots

4 of 6 steps

Checked

3 October 2026

Sources

1 official, linked below

Step by step

1. 

   To open a file once with another app

   Control-click (right-click) the file, choose Open With and pick an app. You can also drag the file onto the icon of the app in the Dock. The default stays as it was.

   Done

2. Select a file of the type you want to change

   For example any PDF, if you want all PDFs to open in a different reader.

   Done

3. 

   Choose File, Get Info

   Or press Command + I. An information window opens.

   Done

4. 

   Open the Open with section

   Click the small arrow next to Open with if the section is closed.

   Done

5. Choose the app

   Pick the app from the menu. If it is not listed, choose Other and find it in the Applications folder.

   Done

6. 

   Click Change All

   Confirm with Continue. All files with the same ending now open in this app. If you only want this one file to open in the app, do not click Change All: the choice then applies to this file alone.

   Done

What we saw on our device

• To open a file once with another app, use Open With: On our MacBook Neo the Open With menu for Sample text.pdf listed Preview (default), Books, Claude, ColorSync Utility, Google Chrome, Safari, App Store… and Other….
• Choose the app under Open with: On our MacBook Neo it showed Preview (default) with a tick, and we chose Google Chrome.
• Click Change All…: On our MacBook Neo, Change All… was greyed out while Preview (default) was selected and became clickable once Google Chrome was chosen.
• Click Continue: On our MacBook Neo it added: This change will apply to all documents with extension ".pdf".

About this guide

Every file type has a default app: PDFs open in Preview, pictures too, music in the Music app. If you would rather use another app, you can change that for one file, or for all files of the same kind.

Menu names are from recent versions of macOS, where the settings app is called System Settings.

Good to know

File types are set one by one. Changing JPG files does not change PNG files.

The default web browser and mail app are chosen elsewhere: how to change the default browser on a Mac.

To go back, repeat the steps and choose the original app, for example Preview.

If a file has no ending or the Mac does not know it, see what kind of file it is with Quick Look: how to use Quick Look on a Mac.

In short: Control-click the file, Get Info, Open with, choose the app, Change All…, Continue.