Windows 2000 Professional associates documents with applications
through the document’s file extension. You can change document association in
one of two ways: with the ASSOC command from a command prompt or through the
File Types tab of the Folder Options dialog box (open any folder and choose
Tools | Folder Options).

You can also change the behavior of an application in
relation to specific actions on a document. For example, a particular document
might take the same action whether you choose to edit or open the document from
the document’s context menu. However, those actions don’t have to be the same.

The document association properties can include several
actions. For example, JPG files by default are configured with an open action
but no edit action. So, when you double-click a JPG file, it opens in Windows
Explorer. However, you may want to right-click the file, choose Edit, and have
it open in Paint or some other application.

Follow these steps to modify these document associations:

  1. Open
    the Folder Options applet from the Control Panel or choose Tools | Folder
    Options in any open folder.
  2. In the
    Folder Options dialog box, click the File Types tab.
  3. Locate
    the file type you want to modify and click it; then, click Advanced to
    open the Edit File Type dialog box.
  4. To add
    the edit action, click New to open the New Action dialog box.
  5. Type
    Edit in the Action field.
  6. Click
    Browse, select \%systemroot%\System32\mspaint.exe, and click Open.
  7. Click
    in the Application used to perform action field, place quotes around the
    path, and add a space, followed by “%1”, as in the following
    example:
    “C:\Winnt\System32\mspaint.exe” “%1”

    8. .

  8. Click OK three times to close all dialog boxes.

Now when you right-click a JPG file, you should see an Edit
option in the context menu. Clicking the Edit option should open the JPG file
in Paint.

Note that many applications such as Microsoft Office use
Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) to initiate application functions. Modifying these
application actions requires an understanding of DDE and its syntax. Search
Help for DDE to learn more.

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