See Also: How to stop the Opus image viewer from being used by default to do the opposite to this FAQ.
Inside of Opus
If you're a fan of the image viewer that's built into Directory Opus then it's trivial to make Opus use the viewer when you double-click on files within an Opus window:
- Preferences - File Operations - Double-click on Files: Use internal picture viewer...
This only affects what happens inside of Opus. When you double-click an image file on your desktop or launch an image from another program, you'll probably still find it opens in the stock Windows picture viewer or some other viewer. Read on...
This ties in to the Images file type group, found under Settings > File Types. If the Opus viewer is configured to open on double-click, the extensions present in that file type group decide which types open in it.
Outside of Opus
If you would like Opus to take over all image-viewing duties on your system, not just within Opus itself, then we recommend using the standard Windows Open With menu.
Follow these steps to associate the Opus viewer with an image file type.
Windows 8, Windows 10, and above
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Windows 10 (October/November 2018):
Jan 2019 update: This appears to be fixed in Windows 10 version 1809, at least on a fresh install.
Slightly earlier updates to Windows 10 introduced a bug which completely broke aspects of the Open With functionality. If your version of Windows 10 still has the problem, you can fix things by following the additional steps here: Win10: setting DO's viewer as the default image viewer - #19 by Leo
Main instructions for Windows 8, Windows 10 and above:
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Right-click an image to open its context menu and find the Open With sub-menu.
(If you don't see an Open With menu, close the context menu and then right-click the image again while holding the Shift key.) -
At the bottom of the Open With menu there should be an item called Choose Default Program, or similar. Select it.
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Turn on the Always use this app to open .xyz files checkbox near the bottom.
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If D8Viewer is already listed, select it.
(It should be listed if you have done this for another image type before, but may not be when you do the very first type.)
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Otherwise:
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Scroll to the bottom and click More Apps ("More Options" in Windows 8), then scroll all the way to the bottom again and select Look for another app on this PC.
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Browse to C:\Program Files\GPSoftware\Directory Opus\d8viewer.exe and click Open.
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Repeat the steps for any other file types you want to associate with the Opus viewer.
If it doesn't work and you are using Windows 10, see the note above.
Windows 7, and earlier
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Right-click an image to open its context menu and find the Open With sub-menu.
(If you don't see an Open With menu, close the context menu and then right-click the image again while holding the Shift key.) -
At the bottom of the Open With menu there should be an item called Choose Default Program, or similar. Select it.
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Turn on the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file checkbox near the bottom.
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If D8Viewer is already listed, select it.
(It should be listed if you have done this for another image type before, but may not be when you do the very first type.)- Otherwise, click Browse and then find C:\Program Files\GPSoftware\Directory Opus\d8viewer.exe and click Open.
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Click OK.
Repeat the steps for any other file types you want to associate with the Opus viewer.