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Default application

aONe edited this page Jan 16, 2023 · 32 revisions

Set Keka as the default compression application

Keka can only be set as the default application for extraction. Keka will not replace the default behaviour of the "Compress ..." option in the context menu, use the bundled services instead.

Set Keka as the default extraction application

Due some limitations in sandboxing Keka can't register itself as the default application without some help. It was discovered here #209.

Set it with a Keka helper

In order to keep things simple, you can use a helper that will make the "Set Keka as default..." work seamlessly:

  • Download the helper.
  • To install it, simply uncompress the ZIP where it was downloaded and:
    1. Within the Keka preferences, click on the "Set Keka as default..." button
    2. Or open the "KekaDefaultApp.app" helper
  • You can call it with the -s or --set-as-default argument to simply set Keka as the default app, no GUI and no installation.
    Call it from the Terminal.app like:
    KekaExternalHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/KekaExternalHelper --set-as-default

That's it. Now Keka will be set as the default application for its known formats. The helper will move itself to a location where Keka can use it any time you need it again.

About the helper

  • The current version is named KekaExternalHelper.app. The legacy version, that still can be used, is named KekaDefaultApp.app.
  • If you've already installed the helper, you can find it here:
    /Users/[YOUR_USERNAME]/Library/Containers/com.aone.keka/Data/Library/Application Support/Keka/
    
  • It is safe to remove it. Just remind you'll need to install it again to use this feature.
  • The only functionality of this helper is to set Keka as the default application.
  • It runs briefly in the background once invoked when installing or when calling it from the Keka Preferences.

Set it manually

As with any other application, you can set Keka as the default application for a specific format:

  1. Open the context menu within a file that you want to open with Keka
  2. Open the "Get Info" panel from the context menu
  3. In the "Open with:" section, select Keka as the default application
  4. Click on "Change All..." to apply this to all the files with the same extension