[OS X TeX] Icons for .tex files became generic doc type

[Herbert Schulz]

On Sep 7, 2014, at 11:20 AM, Murray Eisenberg <murrayeisenberg at gmail.com> wrote:

> Under OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), after I just updated several TeX front ends, including TeXStudio, the app for opening .tex files changed to TeXStudio and the icon for all .tex files changed to that for TeXStudio.
> 
> I used Cmd-I (Get Info) to change the app back to TeXShop for a particular .tex file and to apply that for opening all documents "like this one", i.e., tex files. But still the icon for .tex files remained that for TeXStudio.
> 
> Next, I uninstalled TeXStudio and re-installed TeXShop and made sure .tex files open with TeXShop.
> 
> Now I have the generic document type icon (a page labeled "TEX" at the bottom).  And when I do Get Information (Cmd-I), in the panel giving the file's information, there's no icon whatsoever.
> 
> How do I get the TeXShop icon back for .tex files?
> 

Howdy,

There is an ongoing problem with Launch Services and TeXShop's .tex file icon. Don't know if there is an final solution but the general fix (until the next TeXshop update, etc., at least) is to rebuild the Launch Services database.

The Launch Services dataabase gets rebuilt if you do a Safe Boot of the OS (hold down the Shift Key from the moment you hear the startup tone until the login screen and wait a while for disk activity to settle down.

You can also run

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/Current/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/Current/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

(all of that is on one line!) (You might need to run that with `sudo`.).

I generally use Mavericks Cache Cleaner (MCC) ($9.99 available from <http://www.northernsoftworks.com/maverickscachecleaner.html>) which seems reliable. I can't seak for the first two methods but I rarely have to run it more than once in a row to get things to behave properly. After you open MCC go to Cache Cleaning; do a Light Cleaning but check all three check boxes to clean the Local, System and All users caches and press Clean. After a short delay a dialog box comes up and the OS will eventually reboot. After I reboot I wait a short while for HD activity to stop.

Wish there was a real `fix' but for now...

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)