[DrewAZ]

All of a sudden I cannot open .sit files ... what software do I need?
Thanks in advance

[Grant_G]

StuffIt Expander. It's available on the Aladdin website, and it's free.
G

[DrewAZ]

thanks

[WebFusion]

Wasn't there some problem with prior versions of Stuffit not being able to deal with the current Stuffit archives? I seem to recall an entire article about this in Macworld magazine a while back --- where stuffit expander had been updated and there was a compatibility gap. Can someone shed some light on this?
(I only bring it up here, because the original post says: "suddenly .sit files won't open" which could mean that they used to open fine, and then he encountered a .sit file that wouldn't...)

[DrewAZ]

interesting ... I did have stuffit on my machine but did download a version from the alladin site .... files still do not open. any good ideas????

[Grant_G]

Yes, I have often seen "requires StuffIt Expander v.[so-and-so] or later" usually accompanied by a link to Aladdin's website. So, older versions often won't work with newer .sit files. I am currently using v.7.0.1 and it seems to open just about anything I throw at it.
That said, there are several ways to use StuffIt. Open it and select the .sit file (or .zip or whatever compressed method was used) from the File > Open menu to expand. Or, if you have an alias of StuffIt on your desktop, just drag the .sit file to it until it darkens, then drop the file. Or, with StuffIt Expander open, open its Preferences (edit menu under OS 9, StuffIt menu under OS X) and make sure it is set to be the default utility for opening compressed files from email, web, etc. If you have recently downloaded another expander utility (MindExpander or similar), it may have set itself as the default but cannot handle the files you're receiving.
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[Jauu]

"StuffIt X archives cannot be expanded by older versions of StuffIt Deluxe or StuffIt Expander. In order to expand a StuffIt X archive, your recipient must have a copy of at least StuffIt Expander 7.0 installed. To make your life easier, Aladdin provides StuffIt Expander for free to any Macintosh, Linux, Solaris, or PC user. If you the StuffIt Deluxe CD, you?ll find a copy of StuffIt Expander for Macintosh and Windows included. If you need a copy of StuffIt Expander, visit our website: http://www.stuffit.com/expander"

http://www.aladdinsys.com/support

[Grant_G]

Hey, many thanx for keeping your eyes on our little forums here. Much appreciated!
G

[DrewAZ]

hey Jauu .. thanks. I tried to use the new version yesterday but it didn't work.
Today, I deleted everything Stuffit, downloaded the newest version of Expander and things seem to be working well.
One more question if you don't mind: is there a way to have the files converted by Expander automatically when they are downloaded? Or is the drag and drop the only method?
Thanks again

[WebFusion]

The "Use Stuffit Expander" option appears in the Internet Explorer preferences.
That way, the files automatically unstuff after downloading... /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Grant_G]

I looked in the Safari and Camino preferences yesterday and the option isn't included in either of them. I also checked StuffIt's prefs and it isn't there either, at least in the OS X version. However, I believe that if you drag a file to StuffIt Expander to decompress and it discovers that it isn't the default application for doing this, it will ask if you want to set it up that way. Click "yes" and it should do so from then on.
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[DrewAZ]

hey Grant, look at the 'general' pane of Safari preferences ... click the box for 'open safe files after downloading' ... that seems to result in unstuffing automatically!

[Grant_G]

Thanks Drew. I've dropped Safari again and gone back to Camino. I still don't think Safari is "ready for prime time." Camino is much more mature (both are still beta), and I like the way it handles tabs MUCH better than Safari. I do like Safari's autofill feature though -- that works great. Even better than IE's which requires you to begin typing something in each fill-block. With Safari, you begin the first one and all the rest of them automatically fill in. That's neat!
G