Comments on: Make Edit Original Use the Right Program

By: KimZ

KimZ — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:39:15 +0000

Edit Original in Windows XP only seems to work on JPEGs - it is supposed to work on TIFFs too? Edit Original is dimmed when a TIFF is selected, and the alt-double-click does nothing. Help!

By: Daniel Eslava

Daniel Eslava — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:40:45 +0000

Solution in Win XP. In Control Panel>Folder Options> File Type … Find the type of file (Jpeg) you want to edit with a certain program, i.e Photoshop. Then find the file, and go to advance. Once you click Advance you should see something that says Actions:
Select “New” and write “edit” and select the program you want to edit with, you will have to find it in your program files, or just right click on the short cut to find out where it is. Save and now everytime you want to edit it will open it in that program. It will still open it win Preview, but as default will edit in Photoshop.

By: Holster®

Holster® — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:43:48 +0000

Thanks for the info, I have a simple workaround which helps if you don’t want to make changes system-wide to how your files are handled.

If you Option-click (or right-click) the graphic itself in the InDesign layout, choose Reveal in Finder and then when the file pops up, just quickly drag it to the appropriate application on your Dock.

I do it this way because I quite like Preview opening JPGs and TIFs etc quickly in the Finder, or from email etc for a fast look, so I don’t want to change this. When I need to edit in Photoshop from InDesign I use this method…

By: andysibs

andysibs — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:01:24 +0000

thank you..thank you..thank you.. it’s the little things that can drive you nuts

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 23:06:05 +0000

Oh, and in Windows XP, you can go to Control Panels > Folder Options > File Types and see every single “extension/program” association your computer knows about. You can select an extension from the list and see which program is set to open it, and if you want to change the association, click the Change button here.

It’s a handy window if you want to check/change a bunch of different extensions at once.

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 22:53:59 +0000

Thanks, Branislav and Steve!
For those of you working with OS X who deal with a lot of files coming in from Windows or Linux/UNIX and need to quickly apply file types and creator codes to batches of files, I came across this neat shareware utility while writing the post:
A Better Finder Creators & Types

By: Steve Werner

Steve Werner — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 20:30:32 +0000

For those technically inclined, Gerald Singelmann posted on the InDesign Mac forum the rules Mac OS X uses to determine which application opens a file if you haven’t specified it as Anne-Marie has carefully outlined. It involves a combination of file type, file creator and extension:

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?128@@.3bc0cda3

By: Branislav Milic

Branislav Milic — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 17:40:22 +0000

Mac users, if a picture (especially JPEGs) open in Preview instead of Photoshop,
- just grab with the mouse the little thumbnail at the left of the file’s name on the top bar of the window,
- drop the thumbnail (you have to feel it selected) on the Photoshop icon in your Dock.
- while the file is opening in Photoshop, immediately click the red button at the upper left corner of the Preview window
- edit the file in Photoshop and save…