Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Do not want firefox to choose wrong program as default to open a file

  • 5 پاسخ
  • 5 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • آخرین پاسخ توسّط cor-el

more options

Lets say I open a downloaded text file. Firefox defaults to open with notepad. That is correct, but I want to open it in WordPad instead. I work with that file then delete it and move on. Sometime later I want to open a downloaded microsoft Excel file. However, Mozilla defaults the program used to open the file, to WordPad, the last selection I made. Microsoft should have seen that this is an Excel file (has a .xls or .xlsx extension) and automatically defaulted to download with Excel.

Is there an option change that will force the desired behavior?

Thanks Ed Barker

Lets say I open a downloaded text file. Firefox defaults to open with notepad. That is correct, but I want to open it in WordPad instead. I work with that file then delete it and move on. Sometime later I want to open a downloaded microsoft Excel file. However, Mozilla defaults the program used to open the file, to WordPad, the last selection I made. Microsoft should have seen that this is an Excel file (has a .xls or .xlsx extension) and automatically defaulted to download with Excel. Is there an option change that will force the desired behavior? Thanks Ed Barker

All Replies (5)

more options

It is the MIME type that determines the action and not the file extension, so if both files were send with the same MIME type then Firefox will use the same action.

more options

So then, how do I determine what the MIME type is for a certain file type, and how do I force the MIME type to associate to the correct program?

more options

If there is a MIME type specified then Firefox asks what to do.
If you previously ticked the box to do this automatically then you need to find the MIME type in Tools > Options > Applications and change the action there.

See:

more options

When I attempt to open a file FF asks me what program to use to open it. But the checkbox to always use this program is ghosted. Is there a way to get this to stick?

Thanks!

Tim

more options

That happens if the file isn't send by the server with a MIME type that is registered and that Firefox recognizes.

See Unable to set an automatic action: