XYplorer Beta Club
At the moment, there seem to be two different systems: Windows’ Open With and XYplorer’s own/custom Open With handling. The custom list is useful, especially when Windows doesn’t provide a suitable option, but it can become quite cumbersome when managing file associations.
For example, if I regularly work with a file extension that can be opened by several different applications, adding those applications manually to XYplorer’s custom list can take quite a long time.
It would be great if XYplorer could make better use of the applications Windows already knows can open a particular file type.
Ideally, something like:
- Open With → use Windows' registered applications
- Show all applications Windows associates with that extension
- Allow me to choose which application should be the default
- If Windows already has a proper default application configured, respect that association
- If the association is missing or incorrect, provide an easy way to set or change it
- Keep XYplorer’s custom Open With list as an additional option for applications that aren't registered with Windows
- Open With → Show all applications that can open this file
The main issue is that currently, if I encounter a new extension, I can end up having to manually add multiple applications to XYplorer's list. Windows already has much of this information available, so it would be great if XYplorer could leverage that instead of maintaining a completely separate list.
The custom Open With functionality is great when we genuinely need it. I just think it would be much more convenient if it could work alongside Windows' native file associations rather than effectively being a separate system.
This would make setting up and managing file associations much faster, especially for users who work with many different file types and applications.