Installation Configuration Usage Advanced Options Tips Trouble Shooting Version History

Options

OpenUsing is configured by placing application aliases and folders in the OpenUsing Folder.

Applications:

Place aliases of applications in the OpenUsing Folder. Only these applications will appear in the OpenUsing contextual menu. You may also place applications in the OpenUsing Folder, but this is not reccomended.

Ordering:

Items are loaded in alphabetical order. Use the prefix "xx)" to order things as you want them to appear in the menus (where x is any character). The "xx)" prefix will not appear in the menus.

Separator Lines:

You can add separator lines to the menu by placing empty folders with names that end with a hyphen (-) in the OpenUsing Folder. OpenUsing will not to show separator lines as the first or last item in a menu, nor will it show consecutive separator lines.

Submenus:

Folders and their contents appear as submenus. However if the name of the folder ends with an ampersand (&), the contents of the folder are loaded without creating a submenu.

Running Apps Submenu:

To load a list of running applications into the OpenUsing submenu, place an empty folder named "Running Apps" in the OpenUsing Folder. Of course you can use the ordering prefix and/or ampersand suffix as part of the name. The list of running applications is sorted by name.

Notes

• The OpenUsing Folder is checked every time you use the contextual menu. So if you make changes to the contents of the OpenUsing Folder it is not necessary to restart.
• Folder nesting in the OpenUsing Folder is limited to a depth of 16. This ought to be more than enough.
• Folder aliases may be used in place of a folder anywhere in the OpenUsing Folder. You can even make the "OpenUsing Folder" itself a folder alias. Everything mentioned above regarding folders also applies to folder aliases.
• Folder aliases which live inside the folder they refer to are detected and ignored (to thwart the circular alias problem).

OpenUsing Scripts

This folder contains two useful AppleScripts which can help you configure the OpenUsing Folder. They can be used as regular scripts, or (to be really cool) place aliases of them in the OpenUsing Folder!

• "OpenUsing Folder" is an AppleScript applet that simply opens that folder so you can deal with it directly. Saves hunting around in the System Folder.
• "Add Application Alias" is an AppleScript droplet. Drop an application onto the script and it will insert an alias of that application into the OpenUsing Folder.