"Open With" List

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

Re. Right-click (say) a jpeg > Open With.....

.....and one is presented with what can sometimes be a fairly long list of options (some irrelevant). This list permanently increases in size when utilising the Choose Program... link at the bottom.

Question: Is there a way of deleting options on this list into a shorter more relevant form?

Thanks in anticipation.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

BLUE SKY THINKER,

Here are several options for you:

Open One File Type in Many Applications

Change default associations: If you want to change the default application for a file type--the one that launches when you double-click a file icon--you can use the same technique. Right-click a file and choose Open With, Choose Program (even if you see the application you want on the submenu). Select an application from the list, and this time check the box labeled "Always use this program to open these files." Then click OK. Alternatively, you can right-click any file type and choose Properties (or select it and press Alt-Enter, or even Alt-double-click). In the Properties sheet, click the Change button next to the Open With line. Select the application, and click OK two times.

Now, the hard part: If you want to rename or remove an item from the Open With menu or Open With dialog box, you'll have to edit the Windows Registry. Since this is risky, you should take the following steps to back up the Registry first: Choose Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Backup. In the Backup window, choose Tools, Create an Emergency Repair Disk. When prompted, insert a floppy disk and check "Also backup the registry to the repair directory." Click OK. If you run into trouble, these tools may or may not help. If they don't, you might have to reinstall Windows--so proceed at your own risk.

Remove a menu item: If you add an item to your Open With menu and later decide to remove it, try this: Choose Start, Run, type regedit and press Enter to start the Registry Editor. Navigate down the tree on the left until you come to the branch HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\FileExts. If necessary, double-click the FileExts folder (called a key) to expand the branches beneath. Find the file extension for the menu that you want to edit, and double-click it. Then select the OpenWithList key under the extension key. In the pane on the right, select the icon corresponding to the menu item that you want to remove. (You won't see the menu item by name, but rather the name of the file that the menu item launches.) Press Delete and click Yes to confirm.

Undo an accidental dialog box addition: If you accidentally added a nonexecutable file (such as a data file, which can't open any other files) to your Open With menu, the previous tip will remove it from your Open With menu. To remove it from the Open With dialog box as well, go to the Registry Editor, and navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Classes\Applications. Double-click Applications, and underneath, locate the key that corresponds to your bogus application (the nonexecutable item you added to the dialog by mistake). Select the key and press Delete. Click Yes to confirm.

Rename menu and dialog box items: If you navigate through the menu using keyboard shortcuts, renaming the items in your Open With menu and Open With dialog box can ease the process. For example, Shift-F10 displays the context (right-click) menu for selected icons; pressing H afterward displays the Open With menu. From there, just press the first letter of the menu item you want. But if more than one item starts with that letter, you may have to press it multiple times, followed by Enter. By renaming the menu items that begin with the same letter, you'll be able to access them faster.

Here's what to do: In the Registry Editor, navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Classes\Applications key. Double-click Applications, and then double-click the application name whose menu you want to modify. Under that key, select the Shell key. In the right pane, double-click the Friendly Cache icon. In the Edit String dialog box, edit the text in the Value data box--this is the text that will appear on the Open With menu and Open With dialog box. If you want to give the menu name a unique keyboard shortcut, put an ampersand (&) in front of one of the letters in the name. Be sure that no other menu items begin with the letter you pick. Click OK and exit the Registry. The next time you open this menu using the keyboard method, you'll see an underscore marking the letter you designated; press it to launch that application. This underscore doesn't appear if you use the mouse to display the menu.

Take Care,

Richard