A File association allows you to double-click a spreadsheet file anywhere in Windows, and have a program such as Microsoft Excel or EasySpreadsheet open it.
If you were previously using Microsoft Office, and you double-click a spreadsheet (*.xls) file, it will open automatically with Microsoft Excel. If you were not previously using any particular office suite or spreadsheet program, and you double-click a spreadsheet (*.xls) file, Windows will pop up a dialog box, asking you to choose a program to open the file with.
EasyOffice has the option of setting file associations upon installation. It does NOT automatically do so, since in the past, a number of users have wanted to keep their existing Microsoft Office file associations.
If you did not set the file associations to EasyOffice during installation, you can easily do so from within EasySpreadsheet (or from within EasyWord, or EasyHelper). It's easy, fast, and you don't even have to reboot the computer.
Changing File Associations
Go to the File2 menu, and select File Associations.
A Change file association help window will appear. Click OK, continue.
You will be brought to a Restore your file associations window.
Check off the file types whose file association you want to change.
For the checked-off file type, you have the option to:
Set to EasyOffice: The file associations will be set to EasyOffice; that is, when you double-click a file (of one of the types that you have checked off), it will automatically open in an EasyOffice program. For example, double-clicking an .xls file will cause EasySpreadsheet to start, and open the worksheet.
If the file associations are set to EasyOffice, the programs that will open the files are:
File Type |
Default Program |
.rtf |
EasyWord |
.doc |
EasyWord |
.txt |
EasyWord |
.xls |
EasySpreadsheet |
.zip |
EasyZip |
Note: Unless changed manually, EasySpreadsheet will always be used to open .ess files.
Restore to Original Settings: If your file associations are already set to EasyOffice, you may change them back to their original settings. The file associations will be restored to whatever was set prior to setting file associations to EasyOffice.
Your previous file associations are stored in the registry of your computer. When you restore your file associations, these stored associations are what your settings will return to. If restoring your file associations does not give the results you were looking for, it is because the file associations that you now want did not exist before the associations were set to EasyOffice. (They may have existed earlier, but were changed by another program, prior to setting file associations to EasyOffice.)
If you want to associate another program (i.e., a program that was not associated before you installed EasyOffice) with a file type, you must do so via File Types in Windows (described in "Setting File Associations Manually", below), or by installing the program again (assuming that program sets the file associations upon installation).
Click OK.
File associations are now changed.
If you selected Set to EasyOffice:
Double-clicking an .xls or .ess file will cause EasySpreadsheet to start and open the file.
If you previously had, for example, Microsoft Excel spreadsheet files on your computer, they were represented on the desktop by a Microsoft Excel icon. The next time you refresh your desktop (or reboot your computer), these files will no longer be represented by the Microsoft icon, but instead an EasySpreadsheet icon. Your spreadsheet files have NOT been changed in any way by EasySpreadsheet. The icon used to represent these files is related only to your file associations.
If you selected Restore Original Settings:
If you restored your .xls file associations back to, for example, Microsoft Excel, then the next time you refresh your desktop (or reboot your computer), the EasySpreadsheet icons will change back to Microsoft Excel icons. Windows uses icons to represent the file associations, but the actual document file does NOT change.
Before installing EasyOffice, perhaps when you double-clicked an .xls file, it was opened in Microsoft Excel. Then, you set the file association for .xls files to EasyOffice, so that EasySpreadsheet would open them upon a double-click. After restoring your original file association settings, .xls files will no longer open automatically in EasySpreadsheet - they will again be opened in Microsoft Excel (or the program that was originally associated with .xls files).
When doubled-click, .ess files will still be opened with EasySpreadsheet.
Setting File Associations Manually
Setting file associations manually is not necessary, nor is it always easily possible; for example, you may not be able to easily find the file type you that want to associate. However, some users may want to do so in order to associate some other program with a given file type.
Windows 95 / Windows 98:
In My Computer or in Windows Explorer, go to the View menu and click Folder Options.
Click the File Types tab.
Select the file type (e.g., an .xls file).
Click Edit.
In the Actions box, click open. (This will highlight it.)
Click Edit.
In Applications used to perform action enter the program you want associated with the file type (or, use the Browse button to select the program).
Click OK.
Windows Me / Windows 2000:
In My Computer or in Windows Explorer, go to the Tools menu and click Folder Options.
Click the File Types tab.
Select the file type (e.g., an .xls file)
Click Change.
Select the program you want to associate with the file.
Click OK.
Un-installing EasyOffice & File Associations
When you un-install EasyOffice (if you ever do so), during the un-installation, EasyOffice will automatically write back to the registry the original settings for the associations of the .xls files.
If these programs are no longer on your computer, or Windows has somehow otherwise changed since the installation of EasyOffice, then file types such as .xls will no longer be associated with any program; when you double-click them, nothing will happen. To associate these file types again, you can follow the procedure shown above ("Setting File Associations Manually"). If this procedure does not work, then you may have to install the desired program again.
For example, perhaps .xls files originally opened in Microsoft Excel when double-clicked, but you then set the .xls file association to EasyOffice. When you un-install EasyOffice, the file association will be set back to Microsoft Excel. If Windows does not allow this restoration, perform the association yourself, as described above. If that fails, re-install Microsoft Excel.