How to troubleshoot when a file downloaded through Chrome cant be opened.

On macOS Ventura 13.4 (Monterey 12.6.8) the issue described below has been fixed and does not occur.

On macOS Ventura 13.3, when you try to open a Gmail attachment file downloaded through Chrome, you may find that the file itself does not get opened but only the associated app runs.

It means that the filename stored on the device is in the NFC form and has failed to be forwarded to the app. Similar problems like this are being reported with other files created by some third-party apps.

The problem does not occur if the filenames is in the NFD or ASCII form. And since such a problem has never occurred on earlier versions than macOS 13.2.1, it is believed that the problem is due to a bug in the OS.

How to troubleshoot

• Convert the file to a NFD filename. Select the file which cannot be opened in the Finder, and press the Return key (Enter key) twice.
  

  The Finder allows you to rename a file by selecting it and press the Return key. If you leave the filename untouched but press the same key again, the filename's for is converted to the NFD form.

• If you have many files, just drag and drop all of them to another folder.
• Copying and pasting files by using keyboard shortcuts cannot change the filename's form.
• The problem does not occur if you run the app first and open the by using the app's own function or the drag and drop.

Bandizip and Unicode filenames

Bandizip for macOS supports both NFC and NFD filenames, but it uses a NFC one by default when processing files, to secure compatibility with other OSes like Windows.

Due to the problem described above, however, you may find that you cannot open an archive created by Bandizip if the Archive Utility has been chosen to open the archive.

In this case, run Bandizip and go to Preferences > Advanced tab, and then enable the function to use a NFD filename as shown below.

Still, if you frequently exchange files with Windows users, using a NFC filename whould be better in terms of compatibility. It is recommended to use a NFC filename if the bug in macOS get fixed by Apple someday.

Please visit the link below to learn more about the NFC and NFD filenames.

Help » How to change the Unicode normalization form used for filenames