How To Change How Files Are Opened
When Microsoft introduced Windows eight back in 2012, they as well introduced a whole slew of apps that came pre-installed or that you could buy from the Windows Store. These apps are more like ones you install on your smartphone or tablet than the desktop applications you used to install from .exe files on CDs (or downloaded from a software company's website). But y'all could withal 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 it lets you lot choose which version of each programme you prefer to work with.
The problem arises when there'due south a Windows 10 app that does the same bones function (e.g. electronic mail, graphic pattern, video actor etc.) as a traditional program and decides to make its own app the default for opening and using those files.
What do I mean by default programs?
The all-time example for me is Microsoft's Reader app for reading PDF files. I prefer to apply Adobe Acrobat (or Adobe Reader if I'm on a computer where Acrobat isn't installed) to read PDFs considering I'm more familiar with information technology. And while I tin just open up Acrobat and then scan for the PDF file I desire to read/work on, there are times when I just double-click on a PDF file to open it, e.g. when I get a PDF attachment in an email or from a link on a website.
When I did that before it would automatically open Acrobat, but after I installed Windows 8 and then 10, it opened Microsoft'south Reader app instead. That app would as well open automatically when I create a PDF file from another program like Word.
And information technology'due south not simply Reader. Most of the defaults are ready to born Microsoft apps instead of tertiary-party programs that you may prefer, e.g. the Edge browser instead of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. And it even happens with Microsoft's ain standalone programs—for example, I use Outlook for electronic mail only the default for Windows ten is its Post app.
Ugh.
Changing the default program for specific file types
Annotation: The following instructions volition only work if you lot have the program installed locally on your computer. If you're using a deject-based version of a program —including Microsoft's ain Office 365 applications— there doesn't seem to be any way to make those the default. Update: I've since discovered that even though I'm using Office 365 (version 2016), I do have a local version of the program too, but it does require one of the steps outlined further down this postal service to make it the default.
There are ii ways you can change what program opens past default for any given file type.
Click the Start button and start typing "Default".
Subsequently a few letters, "Default Programs" will appear in the search results. Click that.
The window that opens has a few of the more popular apps listed, like email and browser, but non one for opening PDF files.
Ringlet down and click the Choose Default Apps by File Type link.
A screen will appear listing all the different file types and the default programs they're currently associated with.
Curl down to the file type for which you want to change the default program.
Click the icon for the current default program.
A menu will open up upward that lets y'all select from programs installed on your calculator that tin can open up that file type.
NOTE: If the one yous desire isn't listed, you can scroll down and click the link to wait for a new app in the Windows Shop.
Now when I double-click on the PDF file in my electronic mail, Adobe Acrobat automatically launches instead of Microsoft Reader.
Woo-hoo!
BUT WAIT…
The process above has one major limitation. Sometimes the plan you want isn't already listed in the dropdown menu and if information technology's not a Windows Store app, you're stuck. In that case, we can go back to a classic Windows tool: Control Panel.
UPDATE: Thanks to several readers for bringing this to my attention, but unfortunately it looks similar Microsoft has found a way to eliminate the Control Panel workaround likewise equally i I had explained previously using the Run command to get to the old File Association screen by having the relevant screens redirect to the standard Settings folio. I have no idea why they're so dead set against people choosing the programs they want as their defaults but they go along picking off solutions 1 by 1. *sigh*
Now what?
I have a few final options to try that accept worked for me to switch the default from Word 2016 (from Office 365) to Word 2010 and back over again. I make no guarantees they will work for other applications or even these ones for everybody, only they're worth a try, at least until Microsoft decides to break them also…
Use the Open With command.
In File Explorer, right-click on a file whose default program you want to change. Select Open With > Cull Another App.
Check the box that says "Always use this app to open .[file extension] files." If the program you want to utilize is displayed, select it and click OK.
If the program isn't listed, coil downwardly and click on More than Apps. If it *even so* isn't listed, gyre down and click on "Look for some other app on this PC".
That volition open up a dialog box that will let yous drill down to find the .exe file for the application you desire to make the default.
NOTE: When the Browse dialog opens, information technology may automatically start at the Program Files folder on your computer. Depending on the application you want, yous may have to go upwardly a level to the Program Files (x86) folder and find your .exe file under that path.
Also, some .exe files can have really weird paths that brand them hard to find. For example, here are my paths for Word 2010 and Give-and-take 2016 respectively:
C:\Plan Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\WINWORD.EXE
C:\Programme Files (x86)\Microsoft Part\root\Office16\WINWORD.EXE
Utilize the Program Repair Function
This is what has worked for me with the 2 unlike versions of Word I have. I "repaired" the one I want as the default and that seems to make information technology the priority of the ii of them. And once I repaired both programs, they at present both show upwardly in the list of Open up With apps and so I can more easily switch between them again.
To get to the repair feature, click the Windows button and beginning typing "Apps & features" until it appears in the search results.
Click it to go to that screen, then on the right-hand side nether Related Settings, click on Programs & Features.
That will bring you to the Control Console screen where you can select the plan you want to brand the default. Click change and follow the instructions to repair the program (they will be different depending on the awarding).
Uninstall and Reinstall the Program
This is apparently the option of terminal resort but if nothing else works, information technology'southward worth trying to reinstall the program you want 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 to a higher place is what let me switch back and forth betwixt these ii versions without having to reinstall again.
Select the program you want to be the default.
Having no default
Occasionally you may find yourself with a file type that you don't want to acquaintance with whatever default plan at all but somehow gets i assigned to information technology. Unfortunately, I take not yet been able to discover a mode to remove a default that has been set. 🙁
Setting different programs for opening and editing files
A T4L reader commented below that in Windows XP (aka Microsoft'southward Best Operating System Ever) you could prepare unlike programs for opening a file vs. editing it. You can't do it easily in Windows ten, but I did find one article that shows how to change the program for the Edit card for one application by editing a registry entry. I haven't tested it myself and y'all e'er take to be careful when making changes to the registry, just if yous need to exercise this, you tin bank check it out to see if information technology volition piece of work for your purposes:
How to Use the Windows Right-Click 'Edit' to Launch Photoshop Instead of MS Paint (TekRevue, 08/07/15)
You may also be interested in:
Windows 8.1: Change the Default Plan for Opening Files
Microsoft Products: News, Views, & How-Tos
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Source: https://techforluddites.com/windows-10-change-the-default-programs-for-opening-files/#:~:text=Use%20the%20Open%20With%20command,select%20it%20and%20click%20OK.
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