How To Change What Files Open With
When Microsoft introduced Windows eight back in 2012, they likewise introduced a whole slew of apps that came pre-installed or that you could purchase from the Windows Shop. These apps are more like ones you install on your smartphone or tablet than the desktop applications yous used to install from .exe files on CDs (or downloaded from a software visitor's website). But y'all could still install the latter, making your system a hybrid of traditional programs and new apps. Windows 10 continues this hybrid model, which isn't a bad thing since information technology lets you choose which version of each program you adopt to work with.
The problem arises when there'south a Windows 10 app that does the same basic function (e.g. e-mail, graphic design, video player etc.) as a traditional program and decides to brand its own app the default for opening and using those files.
What do I hateful by default programs?
The all-time example for me is Microsoft's Reader app for reading PDF files. I prefer to utilise Adobe Acrobat (or Adobe Reader if I'm on a estimator where Acrobat isn't installed) to read PDFs because I'm more familiar with information technology. And while I can just open Acrobat and then scan for the PDF file I desire to read/work on, there are times when I simply double-click on a PDF file to open information technology, e.g. when I go a PDF zipper in an electronic mail or from a link on a website.
When I did that before it would automatically open Acrobat, simply after I installed Windows viii and then 10, it opened Microsoft's Reader app instead. That app would also open automatically when I create a PDF file from another programme like Word.
And information technology'south not just Reader. Most of the defaults are set to built-in Microsoft apps instead of 3rd-party programs that you may prefer, e.g. the Border browser instead of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. And it fifty-fifty happens with Microsoft's own standalone programs—for case, I utilize Outlook for electronic mail but the default for Windows 10 is its Postal service app.
Ugh.
Changing the default plan for specific file types
Notation: The following instructions will only work if you accept the program installed locally on your computer. If y'all're using a cloud-based version of a programme —including Microsoft'due south own Office 365 applications— there doesn't seem to be any fashion to make those the default. Update: I've since discovered that fifty-fifty though I'yard using Office 365 (version 2016), I practise have a local version of the program equally well, but information technology does crave one of the steps outlined farther down this postal service to make it the default.
There are two ways you can alter what program opens by default for any given file type.
Click the First button and first typing "Default".
Afterwards a few letters, "Default Programs" volition appear in the search results. Click that.
The window that opens has a few of the more popular apps listed, like e-mail and browser, but not one for opening PDF files.
Coil down and click the Choose Default Apps past File Type link.
A screen will appear listing all the unlike file types and the default programs they're currently associated with.
Scroll downward to the file type for which you want to change the default plan.
Click the icon for the electric current default programme.
A menu volition open up that lets you select from programs installed on your computer that can open that file type.
NOTE: If the one yous want isn't listed, y'all can roll down and click the link to look for a new app in the Windows Store.
At present when I double-click on the PDF file in my email, Adobe Acrobat automatically launches instead of Microsoft Reader.
Woo-hoo!
But WAIT…
The process above has one major limitation. Sometimes the program yous desire isn't already listed in the dropdown carte and if it's not a Windows Store app, you're stuck. In that case, nosotros can go dorsum to a classic Windows tool: Control Console.
UPDATE: Thanks to several readers for bringing this to my attention, simply unfortunately information technology looks similar Microsoft has constitute a way to eliminate the Command Panel workaround equally well as ane I had explained previously using the Run command to become to the sometime File Clan screen by having the relevant screens redirect to the standard Settings page. I take no idea why they're so dead set confronting people choosing the programs they desire as their defaults but they keep picking off solutions one by i. *sigh*
Now what?
I accept a few final options to endeavor that take worked for me to switch the default from Discussion 2016 (from Part 365) to Word 2010 and dorsum again. I make no guarantees they volition work for other applications or fifty-fifty these ones for everybody, just they're worth a endeavor, at least until Microsoft decides to break them as well…
Utilize the Open With command.
In File Explorer, right-click on a file whose default programme you desire to change. Select Open With > Choose Another App.
Check the box that says "E'er use this app to open .[file extension] files." If the program you desire to apply is displayed, select it and click OK.
If the programme isn't listed, scroll down and click on More Apps. If it *still* isn't listed, curl downwards and click on "Wait for another app on this PC".
That will open a dialog box that will permit you drill downwardly to notice the .exe file for the application you desire to make the default.
Annotation: When the Scan dialog opens, it may automatically start at the Programme Files folder on your computer. Depending on the application y'all want, you may have to get upwards a level to the Programme Files (x86) folder and observe your .exe file under that path.
Too, some .exe files tin take really weird paths that make them hard to detect. For example, here are my paths for Word 2010 and Word 2016 respectively:
C:\Plan Files\Microsoft Part\Office14\WINWORD.EXE
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Part\root\Office16\WINWORD.EXE
Use the Program Repair Function
This is what has worked for me with the ii different versions of Discussion I have. I "repaired" the i I want equally the default and that seems to make information technology the priority of the two of them. And once I repaired both programs, they now both show up in the list of Open up With apps and so I can more easily switch between them again.
To get to the repair characteristic, click the Windows push button and start typing "Apps & features" until it appears in the search results.
Click it to become to that screen, so on the right-hand side nether Related Settings, click on Programs & Features.
That will bring you to the Command Panel screen where you can select the program you lot desire to make the default. Click change and follow the instructions to repair the program (they will be different depending on the application).
Uninstall and Reinstall the Plan
This is obviously the option of final resort merely if nothing else works, information technology's worth trying to reinstall the program you desire to be the default. Originally I only had Word 16 on this computer, but when I installed Word 2010, information technology became the default. The Repair option above is what let me switch back and forth between these two versions without having to reinstall once again.
Select the program you desire to be the default.
Having no default
Occasionally you may find yourself with a file type that you lot don't desire to associate with whatever default program at all simply somehow gets one assigned to it. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to find a manner to remove a default that has been set up. 🙁
Setting different programs for opening and editing files
A T4L reader commented beneath that in Windows XP (aka Microsoft'south Best Operating System Ever) you could set different programs for opening a file vs. editing it. You lot can't exercise it easily in Windows ten, but I did observe one article that shows how to change the program for the Edit menu for one application by editing a registry entry. I oasis't tested it myself and you always have to be conscientious when making changes to the registry, but if you need to do this, y'all tin check it out to see if information technology will work for your purposes:
How to Utilize the Windows Right-Click 'Edit' to Launch Photoshop Instead of MS Paint (TekRevue, 08/07/15)
Yous may also be interested in:
Windows viii.1: Change the Default Program for Opening Files
Microsoft Products: News, Views, & How-Tos
If you constitute this post helpful, mayhap your friends volition likewise (hint, hint)!
To receive future weblog posts in your Inbox, please fill out the form below.
Source: https://techforluddites.com/windows-10-change-the-default-programs-for-opening-files/
Posted by: leavellanchey86.blogspot.com
0 Response to "How To Change What Files Open With"
Post a Comment