/ Setting File Association for Attachments

Setting File Association for Attachments

I have an attachment sent to me. When I try to open the attachment, the pop up window asks me to create an association with the association control panel. The only option is to answer OK. I had no luck creating an association and sent the email back to my friend who had no problem opening it on her end. The attachment is a confirmation letter. Kat Delong

When you get this message when you try to open an attachment, it means that the computer thinks that you don’t have the program that is associated with it. For example, if someone sends you a PowerPoint file with the extension PPL, and you don’t have PowerPoint installed on your computer, you will get this message. It can also happen when you actually do have the program installed, but the computer isn’t associating that file with that program by default or simply isn’t recognizing that the program is present.

Convert to PDF

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If you are sent a file and you don’t have the program on your computer, you will need to purchase and/or download that program in order to be able to open the attachment. If you don’t want to purchase a particular program just to view a file, you can often turn it into a PDF file and open it with Adobe Acrobat that you can download for free. In order to covert the file to PDF, you need to get the free download from PDF Online Server. Once it is converted, you will be able to open the file, but you won’t be able to make any changes to it. This is usually a good solution for something that you will only need to read once - it can be a hassle if it is something you are going to do regularly.

Create an Association

If you do have the program that the file is using installed on your computer, you can create an association by going to Start and then All Programs. Click on Default and then click on “Associate a file type or protocol with a program”. Then click on the extension you need and change the program button to select the program you want to open it.

Saving the File and Opening it Outside of the E-mail Client

If you do have the appropriate application for opening the file, sometimes saving the file to your hard drive and then opening it manually from within the application works. For example, if the letter is a .doc file and you have Microsoft Word, save the file to the My Documents folder and then open Word. Try opening the file that you just saved.

If you know that you have the program, but creating an association still won’t let you open the attachment, you may have to reinstall or repair the program in question.