Tag Archives: Get Info

fixed : animated GIFs not playing in Preview.app

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Question :

For my work I regularly get animated-GIF for online advertising campaigns send to me offline. As it turns out I can only view them in the Finder’s preview, but when I double-click on them, they open in Preview.app as a static picture…

What can I do ?

 

Answer :

As any .gif-file is considered as a picture by OSX, both static and animated GIFs will be opened in Preview.app by default. Too bad, but Preview.app can only display static pictures, no movies, nor dynamic pictures…

The solution is simple ; just make OSX by default open all .gif-files in an application that can handle animations, like your web browser.

to do so :

  • locate and select any of your animated .gif-files in the Finder
  • then press the [cmd]+[i] key-combo on your keyboard (a.k.a. “get info”)
  • in the info-window that opens, scroll down to “Open with:”
  • make sure the triangular arrow in front of “Open with:” is pointing down
  • if the triangular arrow is pointing to the right, click on it
  • just below “Open with:” you will see “Preview (default)”
  • click on that, and change it to “Safari” (or any other application that can handle animated GIFs, if you don’t see the application you’re looking for listed, select “Other…” and select the one you prefer from you Applications folder)
  • then, don’t forget to click on the “Change All…”-button also

…that’s it, from now on, any .gif-file on your Mac will be opened in Safari (or your chosen alternative) by default, and you will see all animated-GIFs opened as animations when you lick on them.

enjoy !

😉

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fixed : what’s the location of Apple’s official Mac icons in OSX ?

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Question :

I want to change the icon of my hard drive into an icon-sized picture of my Mac.

How do I do that ?

Answer :

For (nearly) every model of Mac, iPhone, iPad & iPod, the ‘official’ icon is already included inside OSX. If you want to use it, e.g. as an icon for a hard drive or folder, or as a profile pic on a website (a.k.a. an Avatar), you just have to did a little inside OSX…

– in the Finder, select “Go” in the top Menu-bar, and select “Go to folder” from the pulldown-list

– in the screen that opens, paste the following line :

/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources

– now the folder that holds all Apple’s hardware icons and system icons will open

Note : be sure not to mess things up in this folder ! do not delete anything ! deleting or messing up could mean you will have to reinstall OSX !

– in this folder the hardware icon of (nearly) any Mac can be found, the names start with “com.apple.”

– find the Mac-icon you’re looking for, some examples :

aluminium iMac 27″ = com.apple.imac-unibody-27

black MacBook 13″ = com.apple.macbook-black

MacBook Air 11″ (2010 and newer) = com.apple.macbookair-11-unibody

MacBook Pro 13″ (with DVD-burner) = com.apple.macbookpro-13-unibody

– then right-click (CTRL-click) on it and select “Copy” from the popup-menu

– then close the folder (to avoid messing things up, keep this folder open no longer than strictly needed)

– then return to your Desktop (in the Finder) and right-click (CTRL-click) anywhere there

– then choose “Paste” from the popup-menu, and on your Desktop a .ICNS-file with the selected Mac as it’s icon will appear

– then, on the Desktop, right-click (CTRL-click) the icon of your hard drive (normally a generic hard drive icon named “Macintosh HD”) and select “Get Info” from the popup-menu

– then in the “Get Info”-window that opens, select the icon so it will get a blue (selection) glow around it

– then drag&drop the .ICNS-file from your Desktop onto the icon in the “Get Info”-window

that’s it !

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Note #1 :

if you would also like to give your generically named Macintosh HD a different name, go to the chapter “Name & Extension:” in the “Get Info”-window ; if the small triangle icon in front of it is pointing to the right, click on it to let it point down and the chapter will expand to reveal an entry box where you can type the name you want to give to your hard drive

Note #2 :

if you do not see your hard drive on your Desktop, go to “Finder” in the top Menu-bar and select “Preferences…” from the pulldown-menu ; in the “Finder Preferences”-window that opens, click on the “General”-tab/icon and put a checkmark at “Hard disks”