Launch Services

Launch Services is an API that enables a running application to open other applications or their document files in a way similar to the Finder or the Dock.

Open another application
Open a document
Identify the preferred application
Register document file types
Obtain information for displaying a file
Maintain the Recent Items Menu

[Launch Services Concepts and Tasks]

[Launch Services Reference]

[Technical Note TN2017]

lsregister is a useful command line tool for helping you manager the Launch Services database.