change a file type association between apps

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1

How do I edit file associations with programs? When I used to open a *.txt file in Fedora 20 Linux with Gnome, it would open gedit, but in openSuse 13.2 with Gnome it opens LibreOffice Writer. I’d rather have it open gedit. How do I change this?

2

In KDE it is Configure Desktop - File Associations. But I guess you run Gnome. There I don’t know should be some where in settings. It was clear that you ran Gnome in Fedora but it is unclear if you still were using that in openSUSE. openSUSE has a lot of desktops so you need to be perfectly clear which you use since setting tend to be different in the different environments

3

IMO the easiest way to change a file association which should work in all Desktops,

  1. open the File Manager for your particular Desktop
  2. Rt-click on the file you wish to change the association. You may actually already be here if you opened your file recently.
  3. Select “Properties”

You should now typically see a “File Properties” window displayed with either a button or link that when clicked will open up a menu that describes the file association.
When you change the file association of that one file, changes will be made for all same file types automatically.

TSU

4

I did say Gnome for both OSes. Thanks for the advice. I even feel stupid for not thinking of a file’s context menu in a file manager, but the Open With command doesn’t indicate an option to reassociate all files of a type, so I shouldn’t feel stupid. It also offers Properties and that is explicit about reassociating with all files of a type, but I’m used to Properties being less extensive in Fedora/Gnome, so I wouldn’t have thought of that.

Then I experimented. OpenSuse/KDE/Dolphin allows changing but if you pick one of the first choices for apps you don’t get the option to include all files of the type; for that, you have to consider all the other apps, when we wouldn’t if one of the first choices fits. And the change does not carry over to openSuse/Gnome/Files. Then I reassociated in openSuse/Gnome/Konqueror (which has options similar to those in OpenSuse/KDE/Dolphin) and discovered that an association in openSuse/Gnome/Konqueror does not carry over to openSuse/Gnome/Files. That means the association is stored with each file manager, not a central file accessed with all file managers. Odd, in my view.

I have the association I want. Thanks again.

5

Not really odd. remember Linux is multi-user so each user can have their own preference. likewise the associations are not part of “Linux” they are a function of the desktop. So the settings are stored in a location for the particular desktop in your home directory. They are not a system setting :wink: