From AbiWiki

---

Mark Jackson asked:

<blockquote> I love the word processor, and I would like to use it to open all Word and Text documents, as a default. Can you help me in this task? My OS is Windows 98se . </blockquote>

Comment

This is an operating system (Windows) question rather than an AbiWord issue. You may be looking for one of the following FAQs instead:

• FaqUnableToOpenNonNativeDocument: for problems opening any non-native file in AbiWord (not Microsoft Word files in particular)
• FaqUnableToOpenNativeDocument: &lt;later>
• WinFaqAbiWordOpensMyWordFiles: the converse of this question

Answer

Simply set AbiWord to be the default program for files of type .txt and .doc. Im not sure about Windows 98, but heres the step-by-step how to do it on Windows 95 -- the procedure should be similar on Win98 and subsequent versions of Windows.

• On Win95*

• Open Windows Explorer
• Click on View -> Options
• Click on the "File Types" tab
• In the "Registered file types" box, search for "Text Document", then select it by clicking once
• Click Edit
• In the Actions box, select open, then click Edit
• In the "Application used to perform action" box, replace whatever is there with the path and name of the Abiword executable. (On my system its "C:\Program Files\AbiSuite\AbiWord\bin\AbiWord.exe".)
• Click OK, Close, and Close to close the various other open windows.

Repeat the same steps for "Microsoft Word Document".

• On Windows XP*

• Open Windows Explorer
• Click on Tools -> Folder Options
• Click on the "File Types" tab (For some reason, this tab is not always present, like when "Desktop" is the folder selected, or when a single document is selected.) The list may take several minutes to load.
• In the "Registered file types" box, search for "Text Document", then select it by clicking once
• Click "Advanced" in the bottom box "Details for DOC extension.
• Choose "Open" and click "Edit"
• In the "Application used to perform action" box, replace whatever is there with the path and name of the Abiword executable. (On my system its "C:\Program Files\AbiSuite\AbiWord\bin\AbiWord.exe".)
• Click OK, OK, and Close to close the various other open windows.

Repeat the same steps for "Microsoft Word Document".

Contributors:

• Main.RandyKramer - 30 Nov 2002

A much simpiler solution would be to simply hold shift down as you right click on a file in Explorer. Youll have an extra option to Open with... just click on that, and browse to AbiWord executable. This should work in all versions of Windows. - JoshC (registered because guest login doesnt work)

Comment

For information on making .doc the default save format for AbiWord, see WinFaqAlwaysSaveAsWord.