Remove Programs from Open with Context Menu in Windows  

Sorry, I see I'm in a "remove from list" post - came upon it after viewing many other posts, some of which use this method to add a program but didn't work for Windows 10.

Brink said:

To add a program to Open With, you should be able to use step 3 in option 2 below...

Yes, but it's annoying! I have a PDF editor and I don't want to set it as default - mostly I just read PDFs. But the PDF Editor is not in the Open With list - Win 10 stubbornly adds Edge, Vivaldi, and Opera, even MS Word - but does not have PDF Editor. You'd think it would memorize that I use it EVERY time I use Open With on a PDF file, but nooo. Do you know of any other alternatives? Thanks!

Update: I found (via SuperUser) and used FileMenu Tools FileMenu Tools. The interface is a little clunky but was able to add the PDF Editor to *all* File Menu context dropdowns, instead of "Open With" and unfortunately not just for PDFs.

cniggeler said:

Sorry, I see I'm in a "remove from list" post - came upon it after viewing many other posts, some of which use this method to add a program but didn't work for Windows 10.


Yes, but it's annoying! I have a PDF editor and I don't want to set it as default - mostly I just read PDFs. But the PDF Editor is not in the Open With list - Win 10 stubbornly adds Edge, Vivaldi, and Opera, even MS Word - but does not have PDF Editor. You'd think it would memorize that I use it EVERY time I use Open With on a PDF file, but nooo. Do you know of any other alternatives? Thanks!

Update: I found (via SuperUser) and used FileMenu Tools FileMenu Tools. The interface is a little clunky but was able to add the PDF Editor to *all* File Menu context dropdowns, instead of "Open With" and unfortunately not just for PDFs.

I'm glad you found a workaround.

However, when you use Open with > Choose another app, you can select to open the file with app without Always use this app to open... checked to add the app to Open with for that file type. Of course, this method can be a pain to do if you wanted to add an app to Open with for multiple file types.

cniggeler said:

Just to be clear for you (and anyone else in my predicament that ends up here on tenforums ) - for any arbitrary .pdf file I wanted an Open With... option to edit the file instead of read it. If you have the app in Open With, the steps are right-click, hover over Open With, and then select the app. Without it - the way usoft forces me to do it - you have to right click, hover over Open With, click choose another app, click the desired app, and then click OK. An annoying number of extra steps that is now required in Win10, easily be handled in prior versions of Windows!

Is the app now listed in Open with to select after you go through the long steps of Open with > Choose another app?

Brink said:

Is the app now listed in Open with to select after you go through the long steps of Open with > Choose another app?

No :-( That's what used to happen in Win7 - the selection was "memorized" and was present on subsequent Open With's - but doesn't happen in Win10(Of course, it does if I select it as the new default, but I don't want to do.)

cniggeler said:

No :-( That's what used to happen in Win7 - the selection was "memorized" and was present on subsequent Open With's - but doesn't happen in Win10(Of course, it does if I select it as the new default, but I don't want to do.)

You could change the default app back after adding the other app, but yeah this could be a pain and would be much better if remembered without making it the default app.

Hi Shawn,

Just a minor note, for consistency reasons only.

When deleting the unwanted string value, in step 4, I always note the value's name ("i", in your example screenshot) and after deleting it, I also remove it from the MRUlist (which is the sequence the apps are shown), so when a new value is added it gets sorted and shown properly.
As I said, minor, non-affecting issue, but worth explaining what this MRUlist does.

And a request:
All tutorials I saw, are talking about changing the Open command. Would it be possible to have a tutorial for the Edit command too?
I've been trying to change it for a filetype (xml) and I got lost, in the Registry, as I didn't see a way of doing it through Windows 10!!!
Thanks!

ddelo said:

Hi Shawn,

Just a minor note, for consistency reasons only.

When deleting the unwanted string value, in step 4, I always note the value's name ("i", in your example screenshot) and after deleting it, I also remove it from the MRUlist (which is the sequence the apps are shown), so when a new value is added it gets sorted and shown properly.
As I said, minor, non-affecting issue, but worth explaining what this MRUlist does.

Hello Dimitri,

Good point. Thank you.

The tutorial has now been updated to include this.

Brink said:

Hello Dimitri,

Good point. Thank you.

The tutorial has now been updated to include this.

Most welcome mate!