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D Fosse
Community Expert
D FosseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 17, 2018

P: File associations broken (Windows)

  • October 17, 2018
  • 11 replies
  • 1007 views

This comes up a lot in the U2U forums with every new release, and has done so as far back as I can remember.

When an old version is uninstalled after the new version is installed, file associations break and cannot be restored. It seems the old version takes file associations with it on the way out, leaving them orphaned. What makes this an urgent problem is that the CC app does exactly this when "remove old versions" is checked.

When I want to remove old versions I always do that prior to installing the new, and it seems to me the CC app could do that too.

It seems there are several different registry edits floating around, and users recommend one or the other in the forums depending. Which is the correct one? What do I tell people on the forums?

Two recent threads:
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2415195
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2547864

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    pnwfox
    pnwfox
    Participating Frequently
    November 12, 2018


    After updating to CC 2019, Windows 10 will no longer allow me to set the default app to open .psd files as Photoshop. Yes, I've restarted, dumped preferences, all the usual stuff. This has been ongoing for 3 days now. Each time I double-click a .psd it asks me which program to open with, and will no longer open linked files into PS when choosing "edit original".

    When I go to the "set default app by file type" option, all typical PS file associations list Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 as the default app, except for .psd file type. There is no default app set, and no matter how many times I try and set PS as the default app, it still shows as "choose default app". 

    Furthermore, underneath the .psd file type it says "Adobe After Effects Photoshop" (screenshot attached).

    Of all the file types I would expect to work without fail, it is a .psd!

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