Magic Launch rules

A rule in Magic Launch defines a set of criteria that decide whether or not to open a file with a particular application.

You can create a rule for any file type. The rule’s criteria will be evaluated when opening a file of this type. If the criteria matches the file, the file will open with the application specified by the rule.

Dragging a rule to the desktop will save it as a file, which can then be dragged again in the rule list. This makes it easy to share your rules with others.

Supported criteria

inside folder

The file to open is contained in the selected folder. If you select a whole drive, all files on that drive will match this criterion.

filename

extension

access path

The name, the extension or the full access path of the file to open contains, begin with, ends with, is, or is not the same as defined in the criterion.

size

The size of the file to open is greater or lesser than the specified size.

label

The color label of the file to open is the one specified.

text content

The content of the file to open contains or starts with the defined text. The file is expected to contain text in UTF or ASCII encoding and only the first kilobyte will be scanned.

ASCII content

hex content

The content of the file at defined offset is the same as the defined bytes defined as ASCII characters or in hexadecimal. This is primarily meant to inspect the content of binary files.

application is already open

The application selected for this rule is already launched. This is useful to make files open in an application only if it is already running.

Other criteria will be added in future versions of Magic Launch. If you want to suggest a criterion, you may send us an email.

Sample Rules

Objective-C (.m)

Rule for disambiguating Objective-C files from other kinds of files with the .m extension. Inspects the contents in search of C-style comment or an #import directive.

Makefile

Rule for opening Makefile files in a separate app. Simply look at the name of the file.

Orange Label

Rule for opening files with an orange color label in a separate application. Can be put on any file type.
Requires Magic Launch 1.1.

Fireworks PNG

Rule for opening PNG files created with Fireworks, even those with no creator code, by inspecting the content of the file.
By Justin Callaghan.

Did you want to share a rule you made? Send it to us by email (just drag the rule to the email window) so I can add it here.