Set ForkLift as default file viewer

Is there a way to set ForkLift as the default file viewer, to a degree? PathFinder somehow does this, see http://cocoatech.com/faqs#3, but how does it do this and could that option be set to redirect to ForkLift instead of PathFinder?


Path Finder looks like it's modifying the "NSFileViewer" preference. You can set this manually from Terminal to point to ForkLift (I tried this, and it seems to work):

defaults write -g NSFileViewer -string com.binarynights.ForkLift2

(The -g sets this preference globally for all applications.)

However, be warned that the Path Finder website lists some applications that don't respect this setting, such as the Dock and Firefox.


From Forklift official documentation:

If you are using ForkLift from Setapp, paste this command instead:

defaults write -g NSFileViewer -string com.binarynights.forklift-setapp;
defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices/com.apple.launchservices.secure LSHandlers -array-add '{LSHandlerContentType="public.folder";LSHandlerRoleAll="com.binarynights.ForkLift-3";}'

Now as the ForkLift V3 came out, the new command should be:

defaults write -g NSFileViewer -string com.binarynights.ForkLift-3

At the same time, if you like to restore Finder to be the default file manager again, use:

defaults delete -g NSFileViewer