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You can tell Fetch to automatically edit text and image files instead of downloading them when you double-click them by using the Transfer Options pane of the info window.

When you edit a file with Fetch, the file is temporarily downloaded to your Macintosh, opened in the editing application, and then saved back to the server when you use the editing application's Save command. A copy of the file will not be left on your Macintosh. You can only edit text or image files. See the Edit command help topic for more information about editing files.

To set a certain kind of file to be edited automatically:

  1. Connect to your server, and find a file whose name ends with an extension for the kind of file that you want to automatically edit. For example, for text files, find a file that ends in ".txt".
  2. Select the file.
  3. Choose Remote > Get Info .
  4. Click the disclosure triangle next to the Transfer Options label at the bottom of the info window to display the Transfer Options pane, if it's not already displayed.
  5. In the "After transferring a file like this" section, click the Edit the file button.

From now on, any time you double-click on a file with the same extension it will automatically be opened for editing in the application listed in the Edit files like this with pop-up menu in the Transfer Options pane. You can select a new application for editing this kind of file using that pop-up menu, but only the small set of applications that support automatically saving changed files back to the server are listed. By default, Fetch uses BBEdit for text files and GraphicConverter for image files. See the Edit command help topic for more information.

Even if the Edit the file option is set, a file will not be edited when you click the Get button or drag the file to the Mac OS Finder — this option only applies when you double-click a file.

You can set as many different kinds of files as you like to be automatically edited.

To stop automatically editing a kind of file, follow the instructions above, but click the Save the file button in the "After transferring a file like this" section.

If you do not see the Edit the file option in the Transfer Options pane, you may not have any supported editors installed; see the Why can't I choose my favorite application for editing files? entry in the Troubleshooting FAQ.

You can also use the Transfer Options pane of the info window to automatically open certain kinds of files after downloading. Also see the Transfer Options help topic for more information.

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