View and modify document association and behavior in Windows 2000 Pro

by Jim Boyce | Oct 17, 2005 8:13:00 PM

Tags: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Jim Boyce, document association, dialog box, JPG, Dynamic Data Exchange, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows, Windows 2000 Professional Tips Newsletter

Takeaway: Windows 2000 Professional associates documents with applications through the document's file extension. Learn how simple it is to change the behavior of an application in relation to specific actions on a document.

Windows 2000 Professional associates documents with applications through the document's file extension. You can change document association in one of two ways: with the ASSOC command from a command prompt or through the File Types tab of the Folder Options dialog box (open any folder and choose Tools | Folder Options).

You can also change the behavior of an application in relation to specific actions on a document. For example, a particular document might take the same action whether you choose to edit or open the document from the document's context menu. However, those actions don't have to be the same.

The document association properties can include several actions. For example, JPG files by default are configured with an open action but no edit action. So, when you double-click a JPG file, it opens in Windows Explorer. However, you may want to right-click the file, choose Edit, and have it open in Paint or some other application.

Follow these steps to modify these document associations:

1. Open the Folder Options applet from the Control Panel or choose Tools | Folder Options in any open folder.
2. In the Folder Options dialog box, click the File Types tab.
3. Locate the file type you want to modify and click it; then, click Advanced to open the Edit File Type dialog box.
4. To add the edit action, click New to open the New Action dialog box.
5. Type Edit in the Action field.
6. Click Browse, select \%systemroot%\System32\mspaint.exe, and click Open.
7. Click in the Application used to perform action field, place quotes around the path, and add a space, followed by "%1", as in the following example:
   "C:\Winnt\System32\mspaint.exe" "%1"
.
8. Click OK three times to close all dialog boxes.

Now when you right-click a JPG file, you should see an Edit option in the context menu. Clicking the Edit option should open the JPG file in Paint.

Note that many applications such as Microsoft Office use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) to initiate application functions. Modifying these application actions requires an understanding of DDE and its syntax. Search Help for DDE to learn more.

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