How to stop the Opus image viewer from being used by default

Overriding the image viewer used within Opus

Whether or not Opus uses its own viewer for double-clicks on images within Opus is controlled by this Preferences setting:

  • Preferences / File Operations / Double-click on Files: Use internal picture viewer

The initial value of this setting is something you would have chosen during the first-run wizard after you installed Opus, but you can change it at any time.

What the option does

With Use internal picture viewer on, double-clicks on recognized image files in Opus are automatically trapped and the internal Opus image viewer is used to display the image. This option does not affect what happens when you double-click on a picture in Explorer or any other program; it is simply an override to the double-click action within Opus itself.

If for whatever reason you don't like the Opus image viewer and wish to go back to the default Windows viewer, or Photoshop, or whatever you normally use to open images on double-click, simply turn off the option in Preferences mentioned above.

Note that the option does not affect the viewer pane, only the standalone viewer.

Selective overrides by file type

If you want to use the Opus viewer for most things, but not everything, then you can override it for individual file types via.

First, leave Use internal picture viewer on to cover the default. Then:

  • Settings > File Types

  • Expand the System File Types part of the list

  • Double-click the type you want to override

  • Select the Events tab

  • Change the Left Double-Click event to run:

    FileType ACTION=shellex
    

If you want to use another viewer for most types, but the Opus viewer for a particular type, turn Use internal picture viewer off to cover the default, then follow the above steps but set the Left Double-Click event to run this instead:

  • Show
    

Using the Opus viewer outside of Opus

If you want to do the opposite, and use the Opus viewer when files are double-clicked outside of Opus, see the separate FAQ: How to use the Opus image viewer inside or outside of Opus

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