Welcome to the second part of this two-part article about using eXpresso to temporarily associate files types with portable programs.
The first part of this article covered installing and running eXpresso and using eXpresso to easily associate a file type with a portable program.
This second part discusses manually adding, editing, and deleting file associations in eXpresso, changing the path to a portable program, and using eXpresso to add portable programs to the Send to menu in Windows.
Make sure you have downloaded eXpresso and followed the steps in the first part of this article prior to proceeding with this post.
Manually Add, Edit, and Delete File Associations
You can edit, delete, and manually add associations in eXpresso. To do this, right-click on the eXpresso icon in the system tray and select Preferences | Extension Configuration from the popup menu.
The Extension Association Configuration dialog box displays. You can select an extension in the Extension List and edit its properties.
To add another association, enter the extension (including the dot) in the edit box in the Add an association box and click Associate. The new extension is added to the Extension List. Select the extension in the Extension List and use the Browse (…) buttons to the right of the edit boxes in the Main Application and Alternative Application boxes to select portable programs to automatically run for that extension. Click OK for each application to set that application.
To delete an association for an extension, select the extension in the Extension List and click Delete Extension.
Click Close to close the Extension Association Configuration dialog box.
Change the Path to a Portable Program
If the path to a portable program you have associated with an extension changes, you can change the path to that program in eXpresso. To do this, right-click on the eXpresso icon in the system tray and select Preferences | Application Path Configuration from the popup menu.
On the Application Path Configuration dialog box, select the program for which you want to change the path in the Associated Applications list. Enter a new Absolute Path and a new Relative Path in the corresponding edit boxes, following the format already shown. Click OK to set the paths and click Close to close the dialog box.
Open an File of an Associated Type Using the Send To Menu
You can also open an associated file type from the Send to menu using the new Convey feature of eXpresso. To add a portable program to the Send to menu, navigate to the folder containing the program and right-click on the .exe file. Again, for programs in the PortableApps.com format, right-click on the launcher .exe file in the root of the program folder. Select Create shortcut from the popup menu.
The name of the shortcut file is the name that is displayed on the Send to menu. If you want to change the name of the shortcut file, right-click on the file, select Rename from the popup menu, and enter a new name.
Copy the shortcut file by right-clicking on the file and selecting Copy from the popup menu.
To add the portable program to the Send to menu, we must paste the shortcut file in the Links folder for eXpresso. To easily access the Links folder, right-click on the eXpresso icon in the system tray and select Convey | Open Links Folder from the popup menu.
A Windows Explorer window opens to the Links folder. Paste the shortcut file in the Links folder.
To set the program on the Send to menu, right-click on the eXpresso icon in the system tray and select Convey | ReConvey from the popup menu.
Now, you can right-click on any file of a type that is compatible with the portable program you added to the Send to menu and select that program from the Send to menu to open the file.
End File Associations for Portable Programs
To stop associating file types with portable programs, close eXpresso by right-clicking on the eXpresso icon in the system tray and selecting Quit from the popup menu.
Wrap Up
This second part of this article covered using eXpresso to temporarily associate files types with portable programs.
The first part of this article discussed installing and running eXpresso and using eXpresso to easily associate a file type with a portable program.
Once you set up file associations in eXpresso, they remain in eXpresso even when you quit the program and open it again. If you move any associated programs, simply use the Application Path Configuration dialog box we mentioned earlier in this article to change the path to the application, so the association does not break. EXpresso saves relative paths to software programs, so if the drive letter for your USB flash drive changes from one computer to another, the associations you set up still work.
by Lori Kaufman