File Association Problem

Apparently, I'm missing something in how Windows 7 creates or changes file associtions. I have installed an enhanced text editor named Note Tab Std. And I'd like for it to be the default program for opening .TXT files. But I can't seem to do that.

If I go to Control Panel, Default Programs, Associate a File Type, I get a list of file extensions. If I scroll down to .txt, it lists under the DESCRIPTION column, Note Tab Std document. And the Note Tab Std icon shows beside the file extension. But the CURRENT DEFAULT column lists Notepad. When I click on the .txt extension, at the top of the box, on the left side, it shows Notepad, Microsoft Corporation. If I click the CHANGE DEFAULT button, I get a list of applications, but Note Tab Std is not listed, either in the RECOMMENDED PROGRAMS list, or in the OTHER PROGRAMS list. And the checkbox for Always use the selected program is checked, but grayed out.

If I click on the BROWSE button, and navigate to the NoteTab.exe file, and select it, it appears in the FILE NAME box, but when I then click the OPEN button, the box goes away, and I am taken back to the list of file extensions. It disappears momentarily, as if being refreshed, but then when it reappears, Notepad is still listed under the CURRENT DEFAULT column.

How do I get the Current Default changed to the file I have selected to be the default file by using the BROWSE button. Note that I have also tried entering the full path to the NoteTab.exe file, but the result is the same.

Right now, Note Tab Std works just fine. But if I double click a .txt file, it (not surprisingly) opens in Notepad. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Here's a tutorial that might help you out,
Open With - Change Default Program

derekimo said:

Here's a tutorial that might help you out,
Open With - Change Default Program

I looked at the tutuorial. And that is exactly what I have been doing. I've done it two ways (by going to Control Panel, Default Programs, File Associations, and finding the .txt extension, AND by right clicking a .txt file and choosing OPEN WITH, which takes me to the same place. If I click BROWSE and navigate to the NoteTab.exe file, then click the OPEN button, it refreshes the list of files, but Notepad is still listed as the Current Default, and if I then double click a .txt file, it STILL opens in Notepad. It seems to be doing everything right--it just doesn't change Notpad as the Current Default.

Any other ideas?

IIRC, you can do it from within Note tab. There should be a tool in the Options dialog box on the Associations tab through which you can associate file extensions or undo associations. Add extensions to the list to create an association or delete an extension to undo the association.

WindowsStar said:

Did you try FileTypeMan ???

I did, indeed try FileTypeMan. And it did the trick. So my immediate problem is solved. But just on a curiosity level, I'd still like to try to understand why the "normal" method of changing a file extension association fails to work.

I do appreciate very much your pointing me to the FileTypeMan program.

Bill2 said:

IIRC, you can do it from within Note tab. There should be a tool in the Options dialog box on the Associations tab through which you can associate file extensions or undo associations. Add extensions to the list to create an association or delete an extension to undo the association.

That was what was odd, to me at least. I had already been there, and the Associations tab within NotePad showed that it was the appliction associated with both the txt and bak file extensions. However, if I double clicked a txt file, Notepad opened. I'm guessing that the file associations indicated WITHIN Note Tab were what accounted for the Description entry for txt files showing as Note Tab Std document, and the Note Tab icon in the Win 7 file associtions box. But I could not dislodge Notepad from its status as the Default Program. I even removed all the associations in Note Tab, and then recreated them. But that did not result i a change to the default listed in the Win 7 file associations box.

I DID download and use the File Type Man program that another person here recommended, and it DID succeed in changing the association--both in the Win 7 File association box, and in actual usage. So the PRACTICAL problem is solved--that is, I have the right program opening the files. But I'd still like to have some idea as to why the "normal" method of changing the association would not work. Any ideas on that would be appreciated.

FileTypesMan rocks. It easily did what I needed to do. Apparently one cannot edit secondary verbs in W7, such as "edit" for html files, without messing with the registry. A royal step backward.

Thanks.