
How File Associations Workįiles are exposed in the Shell as Shell items. If your application is handling an existing file type, do not modify the file association unless you want to modify the way the Shell handles all files of this type. That includes using the Shell to browse and open the files, searching the content or properties of the files, and previewing the files. As a general rule, implement file associations for your custom file type if you expect the user to interact directly with these files in any way. Unless your custom file type is used exclusively by the application, you should implement file associations for it. When You Should Implement or Modify File AssociationsĪpplications can use files for various purposes: some files are used exclusively by the application, and are not typically accessed by users, while other files are created by the user and are often opened, searched for, and viewed from the Shell. People can control these actions using file associations. If the user double-clicks the file Sample Bitmap Image, the Shell launches Paint and uses it to open the file because on this system, Paint is associated with.
#Macpass window associations windows#
In the Windows Explorer window shown in the screen shot below, the Shell displays different icons for each file, based on the icon associated with the file type. Users can control some aspects of file associations to customize how the Shell treats a file type either by using the Open With UI, or editing the registry. For example, when an application is installed, the application can check for the presence of existing file associations, and either create or override those file associations.

Which icon appears for a file by default.Which application launches when a user double-clicks a file.

When You Should Implement or Modify File Associationsįile associations control the following functionality:.File associations define how the Shell treats a file type on the system.
