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When I installed Softmaker Office 2010, I clicked checkmarks to have Softmaker Office open all of my existing MS office files (.doc). I would like to undo that and have Softmaker open softmaker files and MS office open MS office files. There may be a help file to do this but I couldn't find it. I thank you.

Hello,

to associate a file type permanently with an special program, please do the following steps under Windows XP (these steps are almost identically under Windows Vista and Windows 7):

=> Right click on the desired file type and choose "open with" and then "Choose Program..."
=> Select the desired program/application
=> Enable "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" and click "OK"

From now on all files of this file type will be opened with this chosen application by default (for example via double click).

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Sven Leßmann
SoftMaker Software GmbH

This could also be added code-wise from within SoftMaker's main apps or one over-riding app that could change this for the end-users.

One example is that of the UltraEdit text-editing app allowing this, but there are a great many others that I could point to as well.

However, would doing this within SM make it harder for either end-user or SM to keep proper track of things, even though doing it internally might save users, especially new ones, extra steps that they might not intrinsically know how to accomplish ?

Sticky question, that one.

Joe

This, sort of, answered my question. However, I now have to tell TextMaker to save itself as Textmaker or it saves itself as a doc.

What I was trying to do was to have MS Office and SoftMaker office run on the same computer but run disassociated from each other unless an individual files was specifically told to save itself using the other office file extension. When I create something in Word it would always automatically save itself in Word and When I create something in TextMaker it would always automatically save itself in Textmaker.

At some time in the future I plan to phase out MS Office but until then I would like MS Office and SoftMaker Office to run as if they were each installed on a separate computer.

I hope this makes sense.
van65

Grin, makes sense to me. But that may be why my brain insists that this may be one of those sticky questions.

We want the feature, but will it suddenly turn on us and make things not so pleasant in actual use?

This may be an important trial idea ??...

STRONG HINT TO SVEN and the Team:

PERHAPS, see if SM Developers can put the option into a Nightly Build, then see how it works in Volunteer testing.

Joe

I will refer your suggestions to the developers.

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Sven Leßmann
SoftMaker Software GmbH

Joe, You were exactly right. I wanted to be sure I was up to speed, comfortable and confidant with SoftMaker Office before I cut the strings to MS Office. This means I often do the same job twice but at least I will have proven what I can do using only Softmaker. When I make the switch, I should be pretty well up to speed with SoftMaker and won't be expecting any unpleasant surprises. Once I get familiar with a program, I really dislike having to change.

I may be wrong about this but I have the feeling that if I hadn't told SoftMaker, when I installed it, to open my word documents, I would not be writing this. I would rather not but may end up installing SoftMaker on a separate computer.

I don't want to make a federal case out of this and I have no intention of passing this on to wikileaks.

I thank you for your interest,
Van65

LOL, on the Wikileaks comment!

RE: Running SM Office and MS Office on separate computers...

Although I am genuinely personally and professionally (as a consultant and high tech writer / publisher) impressed with SoftMaker staff and developers... and especially with SM Office 2010 and what comes next...

...I too am carefully running MS Office 2010 AND SM Office 2010 (with Nightly Updates) on the same XP Pro 2GB RAM machine, and am running ONLY SM Office 2010 (with Nightly Updates) on the Win 7 64bit 8GB RAM "little" ASUS computer...just to see how things compare, test out options and file format compatibility, etc.

A General Comment...

In my humble opinion, SM Office as a suite of tools is indeed taking the right steps to be a VERY good, sound alternative to the far over-bloated MS Office 2003 / 2007 / 2010 and possibly what comes next in MS Office.

I likewise feel that of all the "MS Office replacements" software's out there, SoftMaker comes nearest to being "the best alternative to MS Office at a sane and graciously affordable price."

No, not even SM is 100% perfect, yet it appears the closest and still getting closer.

Humble BasicMaker and DataMaker Comment...

In particular, I firmly believe that SM's BasicMaker app is going to really be useful and will make MS Office "aficionados" stop and realize that SM Office is a true game changer if not prudent equalizer. BasicMaker is clearly poised to become a "powerful" tool that can allow and assist users to integrate SM Office between the various SM applications, AND ALSO to the outside world, and potentially the Internet as well -- this last area may well be THE most important "thing" that SoftMaker can insure its users can do.

I feel likewise that when we all see SM DataMaker (DM for short), that DM will also be a worthy stop-look-listen-and-use application...but in all sincerity, we have to see it and work with it with our own hands first.

Joe

Quite my view. It's good to have it confirmed from a pro.