How to open files using a different program than the default

In one of my previous tutorials I have shown you how to set your default programs for files of different types. By setting a default application for a certain file extension it means that when double clicking a file with that extension, it will always be opened with that program. However, there are cases in which you want to open a certain file with a different program than the default one. To do this, you have to use the Open With option.

In this quick tutorial I will show you how to access and use this option.

First, browse to the file you want to open and then right click on it. In the context menu that appears you will see many options, one of them being Open With. If one of the programs listed in the Open With sub-menu is the one you want to use, click on it and the file will be opened. If not, click on Choose Default Program.

Open With

Depending on the file you want to open, the Open With option might have or not a small arrow which will show the available programs that are able to open it.

Open With

If there are no available options, click Open With and you will see a window listing all the programs that can be used for opening the file. Navigate through the list of Recommended Programs or Other Programs until you find the program you want to use. Once you’ve found it, select it and click OK.

Open With

If you want to override the default program used for opening the selected file, check the box that says ‘Always use the selected program to open this kind of file’ and click OK. From now on, every time you double click a file with the same extension/type, the new program will be used for opening it. In the future, if you want to change the default program, follow the same steps.

Related articles:
How to set your default programs
How to customize AutoPlay
How to set program access and computer defaults
How to use the Send To menu and how to customize it
How To Clean Up & Enhance The Right-Click Context Menu

3 thoughts on “How to open files using a different program than the default”

  1. Do NOT open any video files
    Do NOT open any video files with Windows Photo Gallery that way.

    I opened a video file using Open with and chose Windows Photo Gallery. That made Windows Photo Gallery crash and it was never able to play any video files again.

  2. Reverse – Open files using a different program than the default
    I would like to know if I opend a file with “open with” option and I quickly click OK, and after, I realised that the check box for “always use the selected program to open this kind of files” was on, so how can I reverse this selection that I made.

    This is not the first time I do this but never knew how to fix it.

    Thanks, I apreciate if any one could teach me this trick

    Charlie

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