FMv7, Open With/File Association

Report · Nov 06, 2014

Installed FMv9 after installing FMv7.

On file server, v7 files now show v9 Icon.

When doubleclicking v7 files, they open in v9.

When right clicking v7 file, to Open With, v7 is not listed as an option. If I Browse to v7.exe and select it, the Open With dialog still does not show v7.

We have to abort Open With, start FMv7, and then drag v7 file onto FM program window. Or, in FMv7 program, do File Menu > Open and navigate to v7 file.

What happened to the File Association to FM v7? And why can we not open v7 files via Open With?

Thanks,

Dave

Report · Nov 06, 2014

Sounds like standard Windows file associations. You can only have one file type ".fm" associated with an EXE. You could re-associate ".fm" with the FM7 EXE, but then you'd have the same problem but the other way around. There's no easy way for the OS to know if a file is an FM7 or FM9 file (unless you gave them special file extensions (".fm7" and ".fm9") and tweaked the registry a bit. I assume that the OpenWith settings got overwritten by the FM9 installer. In theory, you could probably mess with things to get FM7 added back in. Might be easier to add FM7 to the "SendTo" context menu.

I have many versions of FM installed on the same OS. I deal with this by running the FM version first, then drag and drop the file from Windows Explorer onto the FM application window (the title bar if a document is already open). Perhaps not as convenient, but the options are not ideal.

…scott

Report · Nov 06, 2014

I thought, when I went to Open With and Browsed, I WAS trying to change association to FMv7. But it would not "take". When I selected v7.exe, and the system returned to the Open With dialog, FMv7 was not there. Like it ignored my selection and intended change.

Hmmmm, he said, thinking out loud . . . . I could try changing to any other program . . . . say . . . . MSWord. And then go back in and change try changing to FMv7. Maybe that will break it out. I mean, fix it. 🙂

Thanks for the response!

Dave

Report · Dec 15, 2014

So, changing the association did not work.

Now though, after installing FMv12, file associations are working as expected. That is, files default to v7. And I can change the v7 association to v12. And back again.

However, now Fmv9 will not even start, as I've described in a separate post.

I am considering THIS post, about open with/file associations, closed. As you mentioned, if needed for the time being, we can continue to start the program, and then drag/drop to open files.