Amaya Toman Of course, most users are fine with just double-clicking to launch files on their Mac most of the time. But there are cases when an alternative way to open a file is needed. In today's article, we're going to show you five ways you can open files on your Mac.
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Launch using Drag and Drop
One way to launch files on a Mac is by using Drag & Drop. You can use this procedure in the Finder, in the Dock, but also on the desktop - in short, anywhere where it is possible to move the file icon to the icon of the application with which you want to open the file. If you want to place the icons of selected applications, for example, in the Finder sidebar, read the instructions in to one of our older articles.
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Launch via keyboard in Finder
Being able to run and open files in the Finder is a given. But there are more ways to do this than just the usual double-click with the left mouse button. If you have the Finder open and want to open a selected file from it, just select the item and press Cmd + Down Arrow. The file will automatically open in the application it is associated with by default.
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Launch recently opened files
On Mac, you can also quickly open recently opened files in two different ways. One option is to right-click in the Dock on the icon of the application in which you recently viewed the given file, and then select the given file from the menu. You can also click File -> Open last item in the menu bar at the top of your Mac screen if you have the app in question open.
Right button for alternative applications
By default, each file is automatically associated with a specific application capable of opening it. But we usually have several such applications installed on our Mac, and we don't always have to be satisfied with the one that is natively associated with a given file. To open a file through an alternative application, right-click on the file and point to Open in application in the menu that appears. Then just select the desired application.
Launching from Terminal
Another way to launch files on a Mac is to launch them from Terminal. You can start Terminal either from the Finder, where you click on Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal, or from Spotlight. To launch the file from the Terminal, just enter the command "open" (without quotes, of course) in the command line, followed by the full path to the selected file.
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