[X4U] Double Apps in "Open With" menu

[Nick Scalise]

On Friday, July 08, 2005, at 07:17AM, Kirk McVey <mail at kirkmcvey.com> wrote:

>In the finder, when I right-click on a file (a .jpg for example) and  
>select the "Open With" menu, I get a double listing of all the  
>programs that could open it (Photoshop twice, Illustrator twice,  
>Safari twice, etc.). I've searched for duplicates and there are none.  
>I've also looked in the contextual menus folders and don't see anything.
>What am I missing? Does any one else have/had this issue? If you  
>could direct me, I'd appreciate it. I'm using OS X 10.4.1.

James S Jones posted the solution to your issue back in February:

<http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031215144430486&query=How+to+rebuild+the+LaunchServices+database>

If your "Open With" menu shows applications that are no longer installed, or shows some of them as duplicates, you can use the following Terminal command to rebuild your LaunchServices database:
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/\
Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister \
-kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
Just calling lsregister by itself will show some explanation:
lsregister: [OPTIONS] [-domain { system | local | user | network }]... [path]...
Search the paths for application bundles and add each found item to the Launch
Services database.  For domain specifications, ask CF for the list of application locations in the given domain(s).

  -kill     Reset the global Launch Services database before doing anything else
  -lint     Print information about plist errors while registering bundles
  -convert  Register apps found in older LS database files
  -load     Load the LaunchServices service plugin if it's not already loaded.
  -lazy n   Sleep for n seconds before registering apps if the local cache
            is aleady populated.
  -r        Recursively register directory contents, do not recurse into
            packages or invisible directories.
  -R        Recursively register directory contents, including the contents
            of packages and invisible directories.
  -f        force-update registration info even if mod date is unchanged
  -v        Display progress information.
  -dump     Display full database contents after registration.
  -h        Display this help.


Good luck,
--
Nick Scalise
nickscalise at mac.com