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Box Edit Opens My File with the Wrong Desktop Program

Box Edit , End User , Box Tools , Troubleshooting , Article , Product Utilization , Established

Box Edit opens files from Box.com according to the default program set on your computer. Box Edit downloads the file and opens it with the program associated with that file type.

You can follow the steps below to make sure that you have the correct program defaults set for you computer:

Why is Box Edit opening my file with the wrong program?

For Windows, there is a slight nuance to this behaviour. If a given file type has "edit" verb associated with it, then the program associated with "edit" verb is prioritized over the program associated with "open" verb. A CSV file is a classic example on many Windows devices. On a Windows device that has Microsoft Excel installed, the default program for CSV is typically set to Microsoft Excel, but "Edit" verb for CSV file is often set to Notepad.exe. In this case, when you open a file from webapp via Box Edit, the file gets opened with Notepad.exe rather than Excel.exe.

You can check what program "edit" verb is associated with by opening the context menu for a file type of your interest and selecting "Edit".

Edit.jpg

Solution

You can change the program associated with the "edit" verb for a given file type by configuring registry key.
The following page from Microsoft shows the relevant registry subkeys for changing/registering the perceived file type for a given file extension and changing/registering the command for "open", "edit" or other verbs.

For the CSV example, either of the followings are the change you can make to open the CSV file with Microsoft Excel (instead of Notepad) based on the above article:

  • Change the PerceivedType of .csv from text to document (This will remove "edit" verb from context menu assuming that perceived type document doesn't have edit verb associated with it. In this case, Box Edit will use the program associated with "open" since there is no "edit".)
  • Set the "edit" verb of perceived type text to Microsoft Excel by setting \HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\text\shell\edit\command to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" "%1" (Note: The path of excel.exe can differ depending on the editions/versions of Microsoft Excel. Also, this can be the path of any program you would like the file to be associated with.)
  • Delete the "edit" verb of perceived type text by removing the subkey \HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\text\shell\edit (This will remove "edit" verb from context menu just like the first approach. If "edit" verb for CSV doesn't exist, Box Edit will use the program associated with "open".)

Note: Please note that any change in the registry subkeys like the above are to be performed at your own risk. The above registry subkeys are created/used by Windows in general (not owned by Box) and can be used by other applications. The change can impact the user experience of other applications.

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