How do you change the file type?

T

Travis86

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For a long time, I've been using Smultron, which is a text editor with a lovely interface, but horrid logic. I've finally decided to kick the habit and try to get used to Text Wrangler. However, Smultron has made it so all of my .xml files have a "kind" of either "Smultron document" or "Standard Document". In Windows, you just change the extension to change the type. How do you do it in OS X?
I know how to make these files open in Text Wrangler instead of Smultron, but they would still be Smultron documents. I want to open the documents as XML documents.

Thanks.
 
"Get Info" on the .xml file in question by highlighting it and pressing Command-I.

Open the little disclosure triangle for "Open with:" and select TextWrangler from the drop-down menu.

If you want all .xml files to open with TextWrangler that previously opened in Smultron, click "Change All..." as well.

Hope that helps!
 
Travis86 said:
However, Smultron has made it so all of my .xml files have a "kind" of either "Smultron document" or "Standard Document".
Click to expand...

I'm confused... they're not already .xml documents?

If you're worried about the extension, look in that same "Get Info" window under "Name & Extension:"
 
They have an .xml extension, but they aren't of the "XML document" type. If you take a file that has a certain extension and a certain type, then change the extension to something completely different, it still has the same type.

I'm wanting to change the type. If I could get it to be an XML document, then Text Wrangler would open it by default. However, they're Smultron douments, not XML documents. If I made Text Wrangler just open that kind of file, I would be associating "Smultron doument" with Text Wrangler, not changing the file from being a "Smultron doument".
 
I'm still a little confused... tell me if I got this right:

You've got some files with a .XML extension.

Those files are opening in Smultron when you double-click on them.

You want the files to open with TextWrangler instead of Smultron when you double-click on them.

Is that right? What happens when you do the "Get Info" trick? Do those files still open in Smultron?
 
Ok, if you "Get Info", you see right below the name and the icon, the "type". That's what I want to change.

I'm sure I could get them to open in Text Wrangler with the "change all" thing, but the type would still be "Smultron document", right?

I want the type to be "XML document".
 
I don't think the type would be "Smultron document" anymore... can you try it on one of the files (without doing the "Change All"... just change the one file)? You can just duplicate one of the files so you're not changing anything important, and try to change the "Open With" for that file only...

If that doesn't work, try opening the file in Text Wrangler and then re-saving it. It may change the type like that, but I'm inclined to think that the "Open With" would change the type as well.
 
Say... That pretty much fixed it. The type did change when I changed the program opens it. However, XML files are called "XML documents", but text files are called "Text Wrangler text files". I would like it to be a normal text file, but I suppose this is "good enough."

Thanks.
 
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