Excellent Windows 7 tip: Drag and drop file associations

That is def. Excellent!

@animosity: I think if the application is closed, it changes the file association and if it's open, the file is opened by that application. I haven't checked it, though.

"That's pretty dumb, what if I want to drop a document onto a closed application's icon in a taskbar to get it opened with that document?" Why not double click instead?

A. Paul, did you give him a book or something for finding this tip? B: Someone had to program this behavior. Why do we have to find it? Shouldn't it be documented somewhere??

other tip: if you have an app on your taskbar with which a file is associated, drag the file onto your taskbar to add it to the app's jumplist. i get the feeling this has already been covered before, but i'll throw it out there anyway since it may've been on a different site.

>>somebody had to program GUI behavior in Mac OS X. Why does David Pogue's "Missing Mac OS X manual" exist then?<< Why does it have to always be Windows vs. Apple? I guess that's question C. From Oreilly, who commissioned (read: hired) David Pogue to write the book mentioned above: >>Microsoft deserves credit. So do Apple, Adobe, and Macromedia. In fact, almost every major software company has pitched in by selling increasingly sophisticated software without a printed manual. Instead, after paying $300 or more for the software, you're expected to learn these complex programs by reading electronic help screens. But online help is no substitute for a real manual.<< http://missingmanuals.com/about.html

It didn't work for me BTW. The only option I got was to pin it to the application jump list. Somehow, I don't find jump lists that exciting.

5 versions plus the hidden Home Basic for emerging markets...yuck. Take all of that times 2 for 32 bit and 64 bit and you have 12. Of course some will say that if you include the System Builder, Retail, Upgrade, etc...that the number will be somewhere near 20 version. But, we all know who those people are. I thought that maybe Microsoft would have trimmed it to 3. Oh well, so be it. Regarding manuals...most electronic now ship with either PDF manuals or online manuals. What's the need for a paper manual? Greenpeace and the rest of the tree huggers should be very happy about that. --tayme

@sharky - I can't get the file association to work either. I tried it with a couple of different file types and applications...but all I got was the same thing that you got, the option to pin the file to the application. I wonder if we are missing something...has anybody successfully gotten this to work? @Paul, is there something that we are missing? --tayme

The Enterprise edition is aimed at Microsoft's Software Assurance (SA) volume license customers. Windows 7 Ultimate offers all of the features from Enterprise but loses the volume licensing requirement. So you can think of Ultimate edition as Enterprise for consumers (and other retail customers).

Um, hello? This has been around for ages.

"daveinla is right... this is not a good thing at all. If I just want to open a txt file in notepad vs word to build a document around it I don't want the damn associatino changed." Frankly, I don't know which method is better - dragging and dropping or selecting the file and clicking on the application to open it with in the dropdown list. I guess the former is better if you have all the applications listed in your taskbar. If it's a one time thing, you probably wouldn't have the application pinned to the taskbar, so I guess the latter would be better.