Changing your Windows file Associations
This page is most useful for people who have installed OpenOffice.org (OOo) and now find that there MS Office documents open in Open Office against their wishes. This problem is easily fixed and is quite common.
One explanation is provided here, from the OOo documentation project.
Besides this, file associations can be changed in two ways.
This method assumes that MS Word (.doc) files are now associated to be opened in OOo, while they should be opened in MS Word.
Navigate to an MS Word file. Hold down shift while right-clicking on the file. The following context menu will appear.
In this context menu there is an option labeled Open With and there is small arrow next to it. Move the mouse down and highlight Open With.
Navigate the mouse down to Choose Program... and click.
Select Microsoft Word from the programs list, and then check the check box below that says Always use the selected program to open this kind of file.
If MS Word doesn't show up as one of the listed files, click the Browse... button and navigate to its executable file.
Click OK. Now all .doc files will open with MS Word. Repeat the procedure for all other MS Office file you wish to re-associate.
Again, this method assumes that MS Word (.doc) files are now associated to be opened in OOo, while they should be opened in MS Word. This example is performed in Windows XP, but should be similar in all version of Windows.
From the main menu bar in any folder select Tools > Folder Options.
This will bring up the Folder Options menu. Click on the File Types menu tab. There will be a list of file extensions that are associated with programs on the computer. Navigate down to DOC. The OOo logo will be next to it, because that is the current association. Highlight DOC and click Change..., the window on the right will open. As before, highlight MS Word and click OK. (Note that the Always use the selected program... check box is grayed out because this is the only possible action from the File Types menu.)
It is also possible that the MS Word association could be restored by clicking the Restore button on the the bottom of the File Types menu, but this may depend on how OOo & MS Word were installed.
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Last updated 21 June 2006