Question

cannot put Word in "open with" list

Asked by: agehya

Okay, here's an easy one that is driving me nuts. Because I have a lot of different extensions on my files, I routinely use the "open with" feature in Windows. Until recently, when I upgraded to Microsoft Office 2003, Word was listed as one of those options. Now, it's gone. I have tried to add it back to the list by using the 'open with' interface: "open with," "select the program from a list," "choose the program you want to use to open this file," browsing to ...program files\microsoft office\office\winword.exe (because it's not even on the list), but that only manages to open the documents in Wordpad (and it does a poor job of that, too boot). To no avail,  I uninstalled Office 2003 and re-installed the 2000 version hoping that would do the trick. I have tired of my workaround-- making copies of every file I want to open and tossing a "doc" extension on it, then going back and deleting that file when I'm done. Any ideas? I'm working away today and going crazy.

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Asked On
2005-09-11 at 09:44:15ID21557539
Tags

list

,

open

,

program

Topic

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
3
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500
Comments
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Answers

 

by: LeeTutorPosted on 2005-09-11 at 10:02:32ID: 14859736

Well, the "Open with" list changes according to the file extension used.  Your file opening with Wordpad instead of WinWord might be because of corrupt registry entries.  See these paragraphs at this web page:

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/excerpt/winxphacks_chap1/index1.html

When you right-click on a file, one of the menu options is Open With, which provides a list of programs for you to open the file with. This list changes according to the type of file you're clicking. Depending on the file type, the lists can get long, because programs frequently add themselves to this list when you install them. Making things worse, there are times when the listed programs aren't applicable. For example, do you really want to open a .bmp bitmap graphics file with Microsoft Word? I think not.

You can clean up the Open With list by using a Registry hack. Run the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts. Look for the file extension whose Open With list you want to edit and find its OpenWithList subkey-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.bmp\OpenWithList, for example. The subkey will have an alphabetical list of String values. Open each value and examine the value data. It will be the name of one of the programs on the Open With list (Winword.exe, for example). Delete any entry you don't want to appear. Don't delete the value data; delete the String value listing. In other words, if the value data for the a String value is Winword.exe, delete the entire string rather than just the value data. Exit the Registry.

 

by: LeeTutorPosted on 2005-09-11 at 10:04:04ID: 14859744

If you can't get that to work, how about using the "Send to" capability of the right click menu instead?  Another quotation from the same page:

Add and Remove Destinations for the "Send To" Option
The right-click context menu does have one useful option, Send To, which allows you to send the file to any one of a list of programs or locations-for example, to a drive, program, or folder.

It would be nice to edit that list, adding new locations and programs and taking away existing ones that you never use. How locations and programs show up on the menu appears to be somewhat of a mystery, but, in fact, it's easy to hack. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\SendTo, where <User Name> is your user name. The folder will be filled with shortcuts to all the locations you find on your Send To context menu. To remove an item from the Send To menu, delete the shortcut from the folder. To add an item to the menu, add a shortcut to the folder by highlighting the folder, choosing File &#8594; New &#8594; Shortcut, and following the instructions for creating a shortcut. The new setting will take effect immediately; you don't have to exit Windows Explorer for it to go into effect.

 

by: war1Posted on 2005-09-11 at 10:04:29ID: 14859747

Greetings, agehya !

You can create a shortcut for the MS Word executable to the Send To folder.  Then right click on a file and select SendTo > MS Word will open the file in Word.

Adding Send To Locations via Windows Explorer

Click [Start] [All Programs] [Windows Explorer].
Navigate to the drive where Windows XP is installed.
Expand the Documents and Settings folder.
Expand the folder of the User whose Send To menu will be modified.
Expand the Send To folder.
(If the Send To folder isn't visible, click [Tools] [Folder Options] [View] tab and check [Show Hidden Files and Folders])
Right click any item you want to add, drag and drop it on the Send To folder and click [Create Shortcuts Here].


You can use Context Menu Plus to add items in the context menu
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_zdpcm/is_200310/ai_ziff109622


Cheers!

 

by: RobWillPosted on 2005-09-11 at 10:15:32ID: 14859775

I see question is allready "PAQ"'d but took a bit to test but thought it still might be of some help:

You could try the following, I just did and it worked for me.
As usual...editing the registry can damage your system or make your system totally unusable. Back up the registry before making the following changes.

Browse to the registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.doc\OpenWithList
In the right hand window right click and add a new string value
Above you will see a list of existing keys named a,b.c.d name your new string value the next available letter.
Open the key and enter      WINWORD.EXE    as the value, and close
Next open the sub-key MRUList
It should look something like  abcd
Add the letter of your key you just created and close
The sequence of the list on the context menu is determined by the sequence of the letters in the MRUList. Therefore if you want Word to be at the top of the list make it the first letter.

Hope it works for you.
--Rob

 

by: LeeTutorPosted on 2005-09-11 at 10:17:39ID: 14859778

The thing is, Rob, that he normally does not use the .doc file extension.  In his question:

>I have a lot of different extensions on my files

 

by: RobWillPosted on 2005-09-11 at 10:26:10ID: 14859799

Thanks Lee,
I missed that. You could add and edit keys for each extension but that could get rather elaborate. 'Send to' is a much more practical solution.
--Rob

 

by: agehyaPosted on 2005-09-11 at 10:31:25ID: 14859816

Thanks to all! I am able to be more productive today (and in the future) and owe it to your quick answers. While I enjoyed eyeballing the registry, there were literally hundreds, if not thousands, of extensions there. I work in DOS and only use Window/Word to print documents and surf the net, so the number of extensions I have is unbelievable. The "send to" fix worded great and words for every oddball extension I have. And, it was a fast fixo, the best kind! Playing with the registry could get me in trouble with the office techs, who are already peeved that I'm the only employee in a 50,000+ organization that refuses to join the modern era. Like most maids, I don't do Windows.... Thanks again!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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