greetings, somehow I seem to have corrupted the 'file type' assignments that the system maps to files. all of my .pdf files now think they belong to a non-existent type of application. dbl-click on them and of course the finder attempts to launch the imaginary application. i think this corruption happened after i installed and tried to use 'PrintToPDF' shareware (it worked fine, but created a file wayyyy to large). before you ask, i have checked my Internet Config file mappings and helpers, as well as my Explorer file mappings. I found the offending .pdf document that was somehow mapped as an application... changed it's type and creator codes... but to no avail. now, whenever I download a .pdf, it is automatically mapped to the bogus 'registrationform_old.pdf' application!

Help! What preference file do I need to delete to rebuild the system mapping prefs?

[mac freak]

I believe the "File Exchange" control panel relates file types to creators (apps). But I'm in OS X right now, so I can't check it for you...

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Be Happy.

[Paul Crawford]

Hi all,

To fix the immediate problem with the bogus "application" ('registrationform_old.pdf'), after you change its type back to 'PDF ' from 'APPL', try asking the Finder to rebuild the desktop. (Alternatively, you could try dragging the Acrobat [Reader] app onto the Save A BNDL utility.) This should fix your Mac's invisible desktop database so that the Acrobat [Reader] app is once again seen as the proper owner. The key issue is that there should be one and only one file (app) that has type/creator 'APPL'/'CARO'.

If this strange behavior was indeed somehow caused by PrintToPDF, there's a new PrintToPDF 2.1.2 update available that may resolve the problem.

BTW, I believe that File Exchange and Internet Config share the same preference file ('Internet Preferences'), so I don't think it matters which one you use to modify file mappings.

Regards,

--Paul