Comments on: Adding context menu entries in Win 7

Question: Adding context menu entries in Win 7

Chocolate Pickle — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 19:57:13 -0800

In Win7, how do you associate an app with a file type without making it the default "open" tool for that app?

I know how that was done under XP, but the XP mechanism is gone now.

Something strange happened to me today and Windows forgot all the tool assignments for SWF files. I have it set again so that "open" runs the stand-alone flash player program from Adobe. But I want an additional entry in the right-click context menu to invoke FlashDigger.

I can do that by uninstalling and reinstalling Flashdigger, but that seems extreme. I could delve into the registry, but that's way beyond extreme. Is there a more straightforward way of doing it?

By: Blue Jello Elf

Blue Jello Elf — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 20:04:55 -0800

Right click the file, choose "open with", choose "choose default program", select Flashdigger, and make sure to uncheck the box that says "always use the selected program to open this type of file." Flashdigger should show up in the "open with" options from now on, but the default will still be the the Adobe program.

By: mattdini

mattdini — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 20:12:22 -0800

If you don't see "Open With".. SHIFT + Right Click the file, there will be more options.

By: Chocolate Pickle

Chocolate Pickle — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 21:08:56 -0800

Strangely enough, my file associations just came back. I'll be damned if I know why.

Having Flashdigger in the "open with" popup wasn't what I wanted. What I was looking for was how to make Flashdigger appear in the right-click context menu itself.

By: flabdablet

flabdablet — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:56:58 -0800

Any program you run via Open With->Choose Program will indeed get added to the right-click menu for files of the type you're working with. If you make sure the "always use the selected program" box is not checked before allowing that program to run, this will happen without altering the default (double-click) program for that file type.

By: mr_silver

mr_silver — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 05:20:41 -0800

Having Flashdigger in the "open with" popup wasn't what I wanted. What I was looking for was how to make Flashdigger appear in the right-click context menu itself.

Assuming FlashDigger doesn't have a setting to do this itself, then you need to poke around in the registry to add a new context menu item for the SWF file extension.

It's pretty easy if you're au fait with the registry and where the app is located.

Shout if you have any problems.

By: Chocolate Pickle

Chocolate Pickle — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 05:31:25 -0800

When I right-click a flash file, "Open with..." is not a choice. Shift-right-click doesn't alter this.

By: samsara

samsara — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 09:16:33 -0800

Adding additional actions to the main context menu used to be a lot easier to do in XP, but is still possible. Aside from using a 3rd party tool, you could accomplish this using regedit. Here are some instructions on how it's done. Instead of picking * you'll want to instead pick the flash filetype for FlashDigger to open. You'll also want to keep the "%1" parameter at the end as that will represent the file name being passed to the flashdigger application (consult help if flashdigger needs additional switches to open a file from cmdline).

Be sure to create a restore point before you begin if you feel uncomfortable using regedit. If you're unsure of the file type, you could first look in CLASSES_ROOT for the file extension. When you select it, the filetype will be visible as the default string (ab). From there, look in CLASSES_ROOT for the filetype and you'll find the "shell" subkey where you can add additional actions per the linked instructions above.