Change Default Program For Opening Pdf Mac
Ever open a file only to have it launch in the wrong program, or in a program that you don't want to use?
To open a file on your Mac using a different program, navigate to the file you wish to open and right-click on it to see the file menu as shown below. When the file menu opens, click on the Open.
Many file types, especially common video, document, graphics, and audio file types, are supported by many different programs, several of which you may have installed on your computer at the same time. Some uncommon formats, like CAP files for DirectX, may not open with any program on your computer.
Windows can only open one program for a particular file extension automatically, so if you like to work with your PNG files in Photoshop Elements, for example, and not Paint, then changing the default file association for PNG files is what you need to do.
Follow the easy steps below to change a file type's program association in Windows. Depending on your version of Windows, you'll want to follow the first set of instructions for Windows 10 or the next set for Windows 8, Windows 7, or Windows Vista. Directions for Windows XP are further down the page.
Time Required: It'll take less than five minutes to change the program that's associated with a particular file extension, no matter which Windows operating system you're using or what file type we're talking about.
Setting a program's default file association does not restrict other programs that support the file type from working with them in other situations. More on this at the bottom of the page.
How to Change File Associations in Windows 10
Windows 10 uses Settings instead of Control Panel to make changes to file type associations.
Right-click the Start button (or hit the WIN+X hotkey) and choose Settings.
Choose Default apps on the left.
Scroll down a little and select Choose default apps by file type.
Locate the file extension you want to change the default program for.
If you're not sure what extension the file is using, open File Explorer to find the file and use the View > File name extensions option to show file extensions.
In the Choose default apps by file type window, select the program to the right of the file extension. If there isn't one listed, select Choose a default instead.
In the Choose an apppop-up window, pick a new program to associate with that file extension. If there isn't one listed that you want to use, try Look for an app in the Store.
Windows 10 will now open the program you chose each time you open a file with that extension from File Explorer.
When you're done, you can close any windows you opened to make these changes.
How to Change File Associations in Windows 8, 7, or Vista
Open Control Panel. In Windows 8, the Power User Menu (WIN+X) is the quickest way. Use the Start menu in Windows 7 or Vista.
You'll only see this link if you're on the Category or Control Panel Home view of Control Panel. Otherwise, choose Default Programs instead, followed by Associate a file type or protocol with a program link. Skip to Step 4.
Select Associate a file type or protocol with a program on the following page.
Once the Set Associations tool loads, which should only take a second or two, scroll down the list until you see the file extension that you want to change the default program for.
If you're not sure what extension the file in question has, right-click it (or tap-and-hold) the file, go to Properties, and look for the file extension in the 'Type of file' line of the General tab.
Choose the Change program button, located just above the scroll bar.
What you see next, and the next step to take, depend on what version of Windows you're using. See What Version of Windows Do I Have? if you're not sure which set of instructions to follow.
Windows 8: From the 'How do you want to open this type of file [file extension]?' window you see now, look through the list and select the program you'd like to open when you double-click or double-tap these types of files. Try More optionsfor the complete list.
Windows 7 & Vista: From the 'Open with' window that popped up, look through the programs listed and choose the one you'd like to open for this extension. The Recommended Programs are probably the most applicable, but there may be Other Programs listed, too. Use Browse to manually locate a program.
Select OK if you see it, and Windows will refresh the list of file associations to show the new default program assigned to this file type. You can close the Set Associations window if you're done making changes.
From this point forward, when you double-click or double-tap on any file with this particular file extension, the program you chose to associate with it in Step 8 will automatically launch and load the particular file.
How to Change File Associations in Windows XP
Go to Start > Control Panel to open Control Panel.
You'll only see that link if you're using the Category View of Control Panel. If you're instead using the Classic View, choose Folder Options instead and then skip to Step 4.
Select Folder Options near the bottom of the window.
Under Registered file types:, scroll down until you find the file extension that you want to change the default program association for.
Choose the extension to highlight it.
Select Change in the lower section.
From the Open With screen that you're now looking at, choose the program you'd like to open the file type with by default.
If you don't see that screen, choose Select the program from a list, and then OK.
The most common programs that support this particular file type will be listed under the Recommended Programs or Programs list, but there may be other programs that support the file as well, in which case you can manually select one with the Browse button.
Select OK and then Close back on the Folder Options window. You can also close any Control Panel or Appearance and Themes windows that might still be open.
Going forward, any time you open a file with the extension you chose back on Step 6, the program you chose in Step 8 will be opened automatically and the file will be loaded within that program.
More About Changing File Associations
Changing a program's file association doesn't mean that another supporting program can't open the file, it just means that it won't be the program that opens when you double-tap or double-click on those types of files.
To use another program with the file, you'll just need to start that other program manually first, and then browse your computer for the particular file to open it. For example, you can open Microsoft Word and use its File > Open menu to open a DOC file that is normally associated with OpenOffice Writer, but doing so doesn't actually change the file association for DOC files as explained above.
Also, changing the file association doesn't change the file type. To change the file type is to change the structure of the data so that it can be considered to exist in a different format. Changing the file's type/format is usually done with a file conversion tool.
When you double click on a pdf attachment, Photoshop shows up and attempts to open the pdf file. It will fail absolutely. In this case, you have to change the default program to open the pdf attachment.
I have ever encountered this issue as well. At that time, I tried to open a spreadsheet attachment that is usually opened by Excel application, but WordPad showed up instead of MS Excel. Finally I have no choice but to change the default programs in Windows Control Panel.
Change the Default Programs by Open with
- To begin with, you need to save the target Outlook attachments to local. Just right click on the Outlook attachments and select “Save as” from the context menu. In the new window of “Save Attachment”, you can choose a preferred location to store this file and assign a new name to it. Finally click “Save” button.
- Then close Outlook and find the attachment file in the set location. Right click on it and select “Open with” from the right click menu.
- Next a new window will show up, in which you can select one program from the “Other Program” list or click “Browse” button at the lower right corner to choose your desired program.
- After choosing the program, don’t forget to select the option “Always the selected program to open this kind of file”. Selecting it means changing the default program.
- Finally click “OK”
The above method is the fastest one. But the prerequisite is that you need to save the Outlook attachments to local disk at first. If you don’t want to save it to local, you can utilize the second method, namely change default programs in Control Panel.
Change the Default Programs in Control Panel
- At the very outset, close Outlook application and turn to Start Menu.
- Then access to “Control Panel”. In the new popup window, select “Programs” item.
- In the subsequent screen, you can click on “Default Programs”.
- Next click “Associate a file type or protocol with a program” link. It will turn to another window.
- After a few seconds, all associations between file types with programs will show up. You can select the target file type, such as “.xls” and then click “Change program” button.
- The following window is still “Open with” window, in which you can select directly or utilize “Browse” to select.
- After selecting, click “Close” directly.
Prevent Outlook Corruption
Change Default Program For Pdf
Provided that you’ve applied Outlook for a long time, you must have encountered various errors, and even crashes. It is apparent that Outlook is vulnerable to corruption. Thus you should make some essential precautions, for example, making regular backups, disable auto-downloading external files, block junk emails, install powerful antivirus software and so on. Of course, getting hold of a potent repair tool like DataNumen Outlook Repair is a matter of necessity as well.
Author Introduction:
How To Change Default Program For Opening Files
Shirley Zhang is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including sql recovery and outlook repair software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com