Making Photo Attachments in Outlook Express Open in Elements

[bobandfrances]

I would appreciate someone's help in knowing how to make photo attachments in Outlook Express (Windows XP) open only in Photoshop Elements 3. My e-mail opens pictures in one of my older photo programs, everytime I open a picture attachment & I want them to open with Elements 3 only. I would appreciate step-by-step instructions where to make the change.
Thanks,
Bob

[MikeH]

Bob,

To do this you need to change the associations for each file type. Please note you can only do this by file type - not programs. By setting PE3 to always open (for example) JPG email attachments, it will open ALL JPG images by default. There are different three ways to do it:

With PE3:

Go to Edit > File Associations which will bring up the File Association Manager window. Put a tick on each of the boxes next to the file type that you want PE3 to open.

Within Windows - 1

Go to Control Panel > Folder Options and select the "Files Type" tab. Select the file type (e.g. jpeg) and then the Advanced button. This brings up a window with listing actions such as Open, Preview, Print etc. Select the action you want to change (in your case, Open) and then click on the Edit button. This brings up another Window. In the second box is the default program for this action on this file (e.g. to open a jpeg file). Use the browse option to select the program you want to perform this action by default.

Within Windows 2

Right click on any picture on your hard drive and select "Open With". Then select the Choose Program option from the menu. Select PE3 from the list and also check the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" box.

Mike

[MikeH]

Bob,

Forgot to say, once you have made these settings, if you want to open a picture with a different program one time only (say Windows Picture & Fax Viewer), just use the method within Windows 2 above - but don't check the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" box.

Mike

[bobandfrances]

Thanks Mike, I'll try it later when I get home from work.
Thanks Again,
Bob

[bobandfrances]

Hi Mike,
Your instructions worked perfect!!
Thank you,
Bob

[MikeH]

Bob,

Glad to be of help. :)

Mike