xmp file extension association in Windows 10

[Marietf]

Hi. I am using Lightroom CC Classic 7.5. Due to operator error (mine) when I was culling files in Windows 10 Explorer, I associated the my .xmp files with Adobe Acrobat as the default application to open .xmp files. While the files still show as .xmp files if in list view in Windows, in icon view the Adobe Acrobat/PDF file icon shows. Two questions. First, since they still show as .xmp files, will this extension association cause an issue when using the files in Lightroom and other applications? Second, is there a way to remove Acrobat as the default application for the files? Windows 10 does not give me an option to return to having no default program. Any wisdom would be appreciated. Thanks, Marie

[Akash Sharma · Accepted solution]

Hi Marietf,

Lightroom saves the all edit changes and profile/develop presets info to XMP's.

De-linking a File association in Windows might need some work, I've found this discussion How to UNSET/REMOVE a default app for file type - Microsoft Community  with some explanation so you might wanna check with Microsoft once.

Thanks,

Akash

[Marietf]

Thanks, Akash. I will check out the link. Thanks for finding it. Marie

[johnrellis]

will this extension association cause an issue when using the files in Lightroom and other applications?

It won't cause a problem with LR or Photoshop. I think you can leave the association as is. Or you could change it to LR, so you'll see a more appropriate icon in Explorer.

[Marietf]

Thanks, John. Unfortunately, the only options Window give me are Acrobat or searching the store for programs. LR isn't an option. My biggest concern about leaving it as is is that LR seems to have turned all my .xpm files into virtual copies so now every file I had even on key word in has a virtual copy that show up in Library view. Is there an easy way to hide all the virtual copies?

Thanks for responding. Marie

[Marietf]

Oops. Sorry, John. I misspoke. Virtual copies seem to have been created for all the files I had in collections. Even when I delete the collections (not a big issue, I can recreate late) the virtual copies are still present. It could be unrelated to the .xpm issue but just showed up.

Thanks, sorry for the confusion. Marie

[Marietf]

Thank you both so much. The Microsoft article gave instructions on how to fix the file extension and I am back to not having the xpm files associated with a default application. I appreciate the time you both took to address my problem. Happy Monday.

Marie

[Akash Sharma]

Thanks for the update Marie.

~Akash