GetInfo
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Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me fix my file associations
Dear Aunt TUAW, Good lord, why does Spotify want to open .m4v files? And how do I make it stop that? Your loving nephew, Nehi Dear Nehi, Eh? What was that? Auntie was just giving the kids some Werthers in exchange for them agreeing to play quietly outside the house. Spotify? Good heavens! *fans self* What is this world coming to? Spotify must have upped and changed a file association. Easy to fix, though. Select any .m4v file in Finder, then choose File > Get Info (Command-I). When the Info window opens, locate the "Open with:" section. Select another application, like VLC or QuickTime Player, and then click Change All... This tells OS X to use that application to open all m4v movies. Hugs, Auntie T.
Mac 101: Find where a file came from
If you frequently download files via iChat file transfer or Safari, then you may want to know where the files came from later on. This information can be found using a simple Get Info command in the Finder. Right-click on the questionable file and select "Get Info" (you can also click once on the file and press command + I). Once you are in the Get Info window, click the "More Info" disclosure triangle. Look in the "Where from" field to identify your file's origin. If you downloaded the file from an iChat file transfer, you will see the person's name, handle, and date/time of download. If you downloaded the file using Safari, you might see the URL for the site you downloaded the file from. Please note that this will not work for all files, and your experience may vary if you are using non-Apple browsers or chat tools. Want more tips and tricks like this? Visit TUAW's Mac 101 section.
FileXaminer: a super "Get Info"
FileXaminer is like the Finder's built-in Get Info (??? - i) on steroids. The features are manifold, allowing you to edit permissions and ownership, dates, type and creator codes and much more. It's particularly handy for editing file attributes that the Finder simply won't let you touch. There are some very basic icon and image edition functions as well, but it is mostly a GUI for editing UNIX level file attributes.In addition, FileXaminer also adds contextual menu items with handy functions like copying a file path (for use in the terminal, for example) and Super Delete.FileXaminer is $10 and a demo is available.[via Macworld]
TUAW Tip: Stationery Pad option makes a template of any file
The Finder's Get Info window (View > Get Info or cmd-i) is one of those unsung heroes of Mac OS X computing. It houses a lot of great options, and Stationery Pad is one of them. If you have any kind of workflow where you need to repeatedly modify some sort of a file template, checking this option in any file's Get Info window will tell its parent application to open a copy of it by default, ensuring that the original file remains unedited. While some applications that manage files for you can offer similar functionality, this is a great option for anyone who, for example, use Word docs as contract templates, or begins with a basic pre-built file for various Photoshop or hand-coding CSS/PHP freelance work. You can simply build the file any way you like, save it and check this box in Get Info to tell any app you open it with to open a copy instead of the original. Easy breezy file templates, with no AppleScripts or plugins required.
Macworld: The many faces of Get Info
The Get Info window works in a few similar but at times mysterious ways, and Rob Griffiths has put together an article that outlines each of its three iterations in Mac OS X 10.4 (Panther has two). While this might be rudimentary to some of you hard-core Mac OS X users out there, this is a handy feature walk-through of each slightly different version - Get Info, Super Get Info and Summary Info - for those who haven't covered this ground yet. Check it out.
