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.
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.
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.
Click the link labelled “Associate a file type or protocol with a program”, and wait for a couple of seconds to load all file types.Most programs set themselves up to be the default handler for the types of files they support when they are installed. Open Control Panel (icon view) and select “Default Programs”. Click this link to browse to the program that you want to set as the default PDF reader, and choose the “Open” button to set it as the default.Ĭhange the Default by Using Default Programs in Control Panel Click “More apps”, select an app or scroll down to see “Look for another app in this PC” link. If the default app is not listed in this window, then you can select a different program located in your PC. From this window, choose the default PDF reader of your choice. Or you can also select the “Always use this app” link to make it permanent. Right-click on a file and choose “Open with > Choose another app”.Ī pop-up will appear that will let you choose a program for just one time. Open File Explorer and navigate to a folder containing your PDF file.
Change the Default by Using Open With in File Explorer