windows 7 set default program to open file type

WINDOWS 7 SET DEFAULT PROGRAM TO OPEN FILE TYPE INSTALL
WINDOWS 7 SET DEFAULT PROGRAM TO OPEN FILE TYPE WINDOWS 8
WINDOWS 7 SET DEFAULT PROGRAM TO OPEN FILE TYPE WINDOWS 7
WINDOWS 7 SET DEFAULT PROGRAM TO OPEN FILE TYPE WINDOWS

In most cases, it’s likely that the program you want will be listed before needing to resort to the “Open with…” approach. Use that “Open with…” dialog to locate the program you want to open your file.

WINDOWS 7 SET DEFAULT PROGRAM TO OPEN FILE TYPE WINDOWS

In all Windows versions, this will open an “Open with…” dialog box.

WINDOWS 7 SET DEFAULT PROGRAM TO OPEN FILE TYPE WINDOWS 8

In Windows 8 and beyond, scroll down to the bottom of the list and click on Look for another app on this PC.

WINDOWS 7 SET DEFAULT PROGRAM TO OPEN FILE TYPE WINDOWS 7

In Windows 7 and prior, click on the Browse… button.

If the program you want still isn’t listed: If the program is included in the expanded list, click on it. In Windows 8 and beyond, if the program you want to use isn’t listed, then click on More options to expand the list of programs shown. (In Windows 7 and prior, you’ll then also need to click OK.) If the program you want to use is listed, click on it in the resulting dialog. Instead, click on Choose default program…. That will use the program only this time, and will not change the default. Important: even if the program you want to use is included in the list of “Open with” options, do not click on it. To change the file association, first right click on the image.Ĭlick on, or hover the mouse over, Open with. If I double click on any of them, it will open using the default program, Windows Photo Viewer.Įxcept that’s not the program I want to use. In Windows File Explorer, I have several “.jpg” image files. This approach is quick and easy when you want to change a single type of file association, and you know exactly which program you want to open it. Change the default program manuallyĪs with so many things, there are many ways to change the default program, and I’ve covered some before. The solution, of course, is to fix it manually. Often file associations that were originally set to program A, then set to program B when B was installed, are left dangling with no association at all after we uninstall program B. The second one can sometimes be a problem, since there’s no standard as to what should happen when you uninstall a program. For example, installing Microsoft Office sets up the associations for Microsoft Office documents.

Associations made when a program is installed.

txt files to the Windows utility “Notepad”. When you double click on a file ending with one of those extensions, Windows runs the corresponding program to open the file.įile associations generally come from three places: Similarly “.doc” and “.docx” files might be associated with Microsoft Word, “.xls” and “.xlsx” files with Microsoft Excel, “.txt” files with Notepad, and so on. pdf” files are associated with “Adobe Reader”. What we call a “file association” is nothing more than relating a file extension – the characters of a file name after the last period in its name – to a program.įor example, Windows might be set up such that after Adobe Reader has been installed, “. I’m going to show you what is perhaps the simplest, albeit not the most obvious, way to change the default program. There are many ways to re-create the association.

WINDOWS 7 SET DEFAULT PROGRAM TO OPEN FILE TYPE INSTALL

Unfortunately that “file association”, as it’s called, is not only easy to overlook at install time, it’s also easy to break. That means when you installed whatever program it is you’re talking about, it should have set itself up (or offered) to be the default picture viewer, making it the program that displays a photo when you double click on one. Most programs set themselves up to be the default handler for the types of files they support when they are installed.

Windows 7 set default program to open file type