How to Add or Remove Programs From ‘Open With’ Menu in Windows

On Windows, the ‘Open With’ menu provides a convenient way to choose different programs to open a file. While Windows does a good job of automatically adding programs to the ‘Open With’ menu based on file associations, it’s also possible to manually add or remove programs from this menu on Windows.

Whether you’re looking to streamline your workflow by adding preferred programs or tidy up your system by removing unnecessary entries, this guide will walk you through the necessary steps for adding or removing programs in the ‘Open With’ menu on your Windows 10 or 11 PC. So, let’s take a look.

How to Add Programs in the ‘Open With’ Menu in Windows

Adding an app or program to the ‘Open With’ menu is quick and simple. The process is nearly identical on both Windows 10 and 11, so you can use the following steps on any PC:

Step 1: Find a file of the type for which you want to add programs to the ‘Open With’ menu.

Step 2: Right-click on the file, go to Open with, and then select Choose another app from the submenu.

Step 3: In the dialog box that appears, you should see a list of programs suggested by Windows. If the program you want to add is on the list, select it and move to Step 5. If not, scroll down to click on ‘Choose an app on your PC.’

Step 4: In the File Explorer window, locate and select the EXE file of the program you want to add to the Open With menu. Then, click Open.

Step 5: Select the Just once button.

Once you complete the above steps, Windows will open the file in the specified app or program. Subsequently, that app or program will appear in the ‘Open With’ menu whenever you right-click on a file of that type.

You can repeat the above steps for other file types to add your favorite apps or programs to the ‘Open With’ menu on Windows.

How to Remove Programs From ‘Open With’ Menu in Windows

While adding programs to the ‘Open With’ menu is straightforward, removing them isn’t, as it requires you to delete a few registry files.

As you may already know, registry files on your PC contain important settings for Windows and its apps. Making changes or removing registry files without proper knowledge can render your PC inoperable. Hence, it’s important to follow the steps carefully and back up all the registry files before proceeding.

Step 1: Click the search icon on the taskbar, type in registry editor, and select Run as administrator.

Step 2: Select Yes when the User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears.

Step 3: Paste the following path in the address bar at the top and press Enter. This will navigate you to the FileExts key.

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts

Step 4: Within the FileExts key, you will see several entries for different file types. Double-click the key with the relevant file extension to edit its ‘Open With’ menu. In this example, we’ll select pptx.

Step 5: Click the OpenWithList subkey to view the associated programs with the file type in the right pane.

Step 6: Right-click on the program you want to remove and select Delete.

Step 7: Select Yes to confirm.

And that’s about it. Once you remove the string value associated with the program, it should not appear in the ‘Open With’ menu for that particular file type.

FAQs on Programs in the ‘Open With’ Menu on Windows

Personalize Your Palette

While you may have already set default apps for various file types on Windows, the ‘Open With’ menu offers a quick and flexible way to choose a different application on the fly. Following the above methods should help you add or remove programs from the ‘Open With’ menu, giving you more control over your file interactions on Windows.