How to Open Files and Folders With Your Own Apps in ComfortFiles
Updated August 17, 2026
Right-click any file and Open with lists the applications macOS thinks can handle it. Right-click a folder and the same menu has almost nothing to offer — which is odd, because opening a folder in an editor is one of the most ordinary things a developer does all day.
The reason is in how macOS decides: Open With is built from the file type. VS Code never declares itself a handler for “folder”, so it never appears, however many times you have opened a project in it.
Name the apps yourself
Open with ▸ Manage Custom Apps… opens a small window. Add the applications you want — an editor, a terminal, a notes app — drag them into the order you prefer, and remove any with the button on its row. The same screen is in Settings, so it is reachable when no menu is open.
From then on your apps sit at the top of Open with, in their own group, above the ones macOS suggests. They are offered for files and folders alike, which is the whole point of the feature.
What the menu shows
| Group | What is in it |
|---|---|
| Custom apps | The applications you added, in your order |
| Suggested by macOS | What the system associates with this file type |
| Other… | The system’s own picker, for a one-off |
The custom list is curated, not remembered: nothing is added to it because you happened to use it once. “Define what apps can open this” is an instruction, and a list that quietly fills itself would be a different feature wearing the same name.
Good to know
- An app that has been deleted, or lives on a disk that is not plugged in, is left out rather than offered as a row that can only fail.
- Names come from the applications themselves, so Visual Studio Code.app appears the way it calls itself.
- Some apps ignore the file they are handed. A web app in a native wrapper may have no document handling at all and will just come to the front. Nothing on our side can change that — worth knowing before you conclude the menu is broken.
Related
- Move To and Copy To — sending files somewhere without navigating there first.
- The default file viewer — making ComfortFiles the app that opens folders in the first place.
- Quick Access — pinning the folders you keep returning to.
Frequently asked questions
How do I open a folder in VS Code from a file manager?
Add VS Code once to your custom apps, then right-click any folder and choose it from Open with. macOS does not offer this by itself: its own Open With list is built from the file type, and no editor registers as a handler for folders, so the folder half of the menu is normally empty no matter what you have installed.
How do I add an app to Open with in ComfortFiles?
Right-click anything, open Open with, and choose Manage Custom Apps… — or find the same screen in Settings. Add the applications you want, drag them into the order you like, and they appear at the top of the menu from then on, above the apps macOS suggests.
Why is the list curated instead of remembering what I used?
Because "the apps I want on this menu" and "the apps I have opened something with once" are different lists, and the second one fills up with things you tried and abandoned. You name what belongs there, and it stays until you remove it.
I chose an app and it opened, but not my file. Why?
Some applications — usually web apps in a native wrapper — accept being launched but have no way to open a document that is handed to them, so they simply come to the front. That is a limit of the app, not of the menu: nothing ComfortFiles does can make an application open a file it has no code to open.