mysterious folders with zipped xml files

[robinbluebird]

Hi,

I recently moved a bunch of Mellel files from my Powerbook (running Panther) onto my iMac (running Tiger). The files show up in their "folder" form containing a zipped xml.gz file, the contents of which I can't open with Mellel.

I'm speculating the OS switch has something to do with it but I really don't know. Version of Mellel was the same on both machines.

I saw a thread on this in the archives where the following solution was offered:

" You want to delete
/Library/Caches/com.apple.LaunchServices.6B.csstore (I'm not sure if yours will also use the "6B", you may have something different in place of that. But the rest of the filename will be identical.)
/Library/Caches/com.apple.LaunchServices.LocalCache.csstore "

But there was no response as to whether anyone did this and it actually worked.

Someone also suggested re-installing Mellel but again no response as to whether this worked.

I'm off to work on this now but wanted to report this behavior and also would be interested in hearing if more people have experienced this and how they worked it out.

Thanks
Robin

[robinbluebird]

Hi all,

mistakenly posted this to "nitty and gritty" instead of "all things Mellel." Hope folks will see it anyway.

Thanks
Robin

[robinbluebird]

Hi,

just wanted to report that deleting the specified files did not work, but the re-install did.

I am always thankful for the the good advice on this forum!

Robin

[robinbluebird]

this is getting embarrassing...

The re-install solution did not work completely. At first, all the folder icons reverted to Mellel icons. I did not test opening all the files. After a few hours, they had become folder icons and hence unopenable files again!

I discovered that duplicating the problematic folder-files created openable copies with the regular Mellel icon.

Hope this fix sticks.

Robin

[rpcameron]

The new format for Mellel is a bundle, which is really just a folder with an extension that OS X treats as a file instead of a folder. (Applications are really directories with all their files inside, but you only see it as one file.) It looks like in the transfer of files, some of the attributes either got corrupted, or the OS forgot that .mellel folders are bundles.

Did you already try backing up, then deleting your Mellel preferences? Try deleting your Mellel preferences, then reassociating the .mellel bundles. In the Get Info window of the Finder, also click the button to change all .mellel bundles to open with Mellel.