Sorry, this may as well be user error, but this has me completely stumped:
Windows 11 24H2, Directory Opus 13.10
Swiftdo PDF is my PDF Viewer/editor of choice at the moment. It's set as the default App for .PDF files in Windows 11.
Opening PDF files from the Windows Explorer (or Windows Desktop or pretty much anywhere else) opens them in Swiftdo PDF.
Double-clicking the same PDF file from Directory Opus 13.10 opens them in Microsoft Edge. Every single time. What am I doing wrong?
Try right-click > Open With > Choose Default and select it from there. That sometimes fixes similar issues.
If it still opens Edge, there might be something in Settings > File Types that's overriding the double-click action. A script add-in could also do the same, potentially.
(I assume we're talking about the PDF opening in a new window/program, not within the viewer pane of Opus.)
Try right-click > Open With > Choose Default and select it from there. That sometimes fixes similar issues.
First thing I did. Changed the default multiple times. Works for every other app, except Directory Opus. (Oh, and when the file is opened via that dialog, it opens in the correct app - but the "Open" dialog still insists on Edge).
A script add-in could also do the same, potentially.
There are zero add-ins installed, it's not a very customized install of Directory Opus, most things are default.
If it still opens Edge, there might be something in Settings > File Types that's overriding the double-click action.
Well:
... it does say that it's opening the file with Microsoft Edge (which it does), but I have no idea why it does so:
... every other tab/entry/setting inside Directory Opus' "Edit File Type" thing is completely default/blank/not defined. Zero trace of anything that would point towards why it thinks it should open it with Microsoft Edge.
You're assuming correct. I didn't even know that was an option, I'm not using the viewer pane.
As I said: everything is pretty close to vanilla, this is the first time I even opened the File Type settings in Directory Opus.
The Open With dialog should have an option to make that choice permanent.
If that isn’t working, try reinstalling the PDF viewer and rebooting. That often fixes the registry details that different PDF tools fight over.
If it’s still not working, please go to Settings > File Types, then open the dialog’s menu at the top and choose Diagnostic, and share the results via reply or private message.
I know, I did choose "Always" every single time.
I did, to no avail. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Adobe Reader and made it the default. I rebooted several times. Given that Edge is integral part of Windows 11 and Windows 11 limited the control applications have over default file associations even further, my hunch is that these tools have a hard time overwriting the Windows default.
I made Soda PDF, Firefox, Affinity Designer and PDFGear the default. They work as expected everywhere except for double-clicking the file in Directory Opus 13.
In fact, the "Open" dialog inside Directory Opus opens the correct program, it's only the default double-click that doesn't.
But there simply is no overriding double-click commend set:
There are no scripts installed:
This is the behavior I'm experiencing:
Open in Windows Explorer -> Opens default PDF Viewer
Double-Click in Windows Explorer -> Opens default PDF Viewer
Double-Click anywhere else in Windows (e.g. on the Desktop) -> Opens default PDF Viewer
Asking Firefox to open a PDF externally -> Opens default PDF Viewer
Right-click, then Open (default, bold) in Directory Opus -> Opens default PDF Viewer
Double-Click in Directory Opus -> Opens Microsoft Edge
I really don't know what else to do, but I don't think this is simple user error at this point.
This feels like a bug, in either Windows or Directory Opus, but it's only negatively affecting my interactions with Directory Opus.
Since you appear to be struggling to believe me that I know how to set default file associations in Windows 11 (and Microsoft did make it quite tedious and annoying), here are some screenshots, using Adobe Reader as an example:
There is absolutely no sensible reason why Directory Opus is so convinced that it should open .pdf files with Microsoft Edge instead.
That's not a setting, it just reflects what's in the registry.
Have you tried toggling Opus' Explorer Replacement (Preferences / Launching Opus / Explorer Replacement)?
I know it's not a setting, it clearly can't be toggled. But it's also clearly Directory Opus' incorrect interpretation of what is in the registry, given that every single other program correctly opens the files with the configured viewer and every user facing settings dialog and setting in Windows 11 agrees with that - except for Directory Opus.
Here's another one:
For all intents and purposes, the old file type association settings that this dialog is referencing is gone in Windows 11. There's certainly no more direct, intended, way to access it anywhere from the system.
And if that's what's in the registry, it's in the registry because Windows 11 24H2 intentionally put it there, I'm hoping for good reasons. I'm not actively using Edge, it came with Windows.
Given that a UAC dialog pops up when I try to delete the PDF File Type inside Directory Opus, am I correct to assume that it tries to erase system settings and not just dopus-related settings?
I just did that, it had absolutely zero impact on file handling of any sort as far as I can tell. I toggled it back, again: no change.
Send us the diagnostics:
You could add an override there to solve the problem. The Left double-click event will take priority over the other actions and events, and can be set to the same thing you see for the Open action on the tab next to it.
I encountered this same problem in a fresh install of Windows 11 Pro.
I was able to solve this myself.
PDFs were getting opened by Firefox when doble-clicked on DOpus, even though I had installed Adobe Reader and set it as the default program for PDFs.
File explorer correctly opened them with Adobe Reader.
Many thanks to @Leo for directing me to the Diagnostic tool in DOpus's file types dialog. I decided to use it and take a look at the files myself.
The cuplrit was this Registry path:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\UserChoice\
This contained records related to FirefoxPDF, and wasn't getting updated by changing the default PDF program
What instead was getting changed was this path:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\UserChoiceLatest\
I looked it up and found that this is apparently something that's getting AB tested by Microsoft: UserChoiceLatest – Microsoft’s new protection for file type associations – the kolbicz blog
What worked for me is that I deleted the records inside HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\UserChoice\
DOpus was then able to open PDF files with Adobe reader (or whatever program I picked as default).
Thank you, @mortar that indeed fixed it for me.
I still am struggling to understand why seemingly only Directory Opus is thrown off by the "UserChoice" - while every other application followed the correct ProgId entrys.
I am having this issue with all file types right now
This is hopefully fixed in 13.15.3.
I don't think 13.15.3 fixed it... I am running 13.16 on my new Windows 11 laptop. Dopus opens PDFs in Edge while File Explorer opens it in the default PDF viewer (Foxit). I installed Foxit from scratch and rebooted but behavior is the same...
Is there a fix?
Try using right-click, Open With > Choose Default.
(Assuming we're talking about double-clicks and not the viewer pane.)
If it still doesn't work, please send us the filetype diagnostics mentioned above.
Yes, chose default program many times and yes, it's related to double click. Will DM the diagnostics
Your diagnostic indicates MS Edge is selected as the default handler for PDF files in the registry:
64 HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\UserChoiceLatest\
64 HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\UserChoiceLatest: "Hash" is REG_SZ: "UAQX+xACP0g="
64 HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\UserChoiceLatest\ProgId\
64 HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\UserChoiceLatest\ProgId: "ProgId" is REG_SZ: "MSEdgePDF"
Trimming the middles of the lines so it's easier to read:
64 HKCU\...\.pdf\UserChoiceLatest\
64 HKCU\...\.pdf\UserChoiceLatest: "Hash" is REG_SZ: "UAQX+xACP0g="
64 HKCU\...\.pdf\UserChoiceLatest\ProgId\
64 HKCU\...\.pdf\UserChoiceLatest\ProgId: "ProgId" is REG_SZ: "MSEdgePDF"
There's also the old UserChoice, which is set to FoxIt, but the new UserChoiceLatest overrides that. (Microsoft recently added UserChoiceLatest, apparently in an attempt to stop programs that had worked out how to modify UserChoice.)
64 HKCU\...\.pdf\UserChoice\
64 HKCU\...\.pdf\UserChoice: "Hash" is REG_SZ: "J8DP6GAN6Ow="
64 HKCU\...\.pdf\UserChoice: "ProgId" is REG_SZ: "FoxitReader.Document"
If Open With > Choose Default isn't working to change that, it may be worth doing the same from File Explorer, in case the OS is blocking association changes from other apps. Or via Windows Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Choose default application by file type.
Edit: Trying with the latest Opus beta may also be worth doing, as we have made some refinements since 13.16 to how the new UserChoiceLatest is used.
Hi, I tried all the suggestions, i.e.,
Unfortunately, dopus still opens PDFs in Edge while file explorer opens PDFs in Foxit Reader as setup...
Just a thought have you tried right clicking PDF and then open from the context menu that pops up. I had a similar problem with Jar files when double clicking opened in dopus, but when using the context menus opened as they should.