[agpunter]

I teach at the university level and use an online service. I have a student who submits his work in wps instead of word. When it opens, it opens in word pad and doesn't give me a choice of other programs to use. I may have told it to always use wordpad, inadvertently of course, but want the other options to come back. It is this way on my Microsoft exchange as well as my Blackboard page. Is there anything I can do?

[ScottGem]

Tell the student to save the work as a Word Doc. He can use File>Save As to do so. The WPS format is Microsoft Works. Word can convert WPS files if you install the Works converters.

To unset it from opening in WordPad, Right click the file, Select Open With, choose your app and then check off the Always Open with box.

[agpunter]

When I right click, it doesn't give me any options at all

[ScottGem]

Are you right clicking using Windows Explorer?

[agpunter]

Not sure what you mean... I use internet explorer, but I am on the wps file when I right click. It used to give me the options to use other programs to open. I believe I inadvertently told it to use wordpad each time to open wps, so now all my other options are gone.

[ScottGem]

I'm not sure what you mean by "on the file". Windows Explorer is what allows you to browse through the contents of your hard drive. No, you can still use Open With to change that.

[JBeaucaire]

AGPunter, I really think Scott's first answer is the correct one. I've taken and taught online courses and one thing that was clear... the format required of all submitted homework.

Any homework not submitted in the correct format is simply returned... for no credit. "No credit" is all the motivation your students need. And that's as much time as you should be spending on this at all. Require Word .doc or .docx format and let your students figure out how they will provide that to you.

You could provide a link to an internet download of OpenOffice which is a free office suite that saves docs to all the MS formats. Can't beat free!

[agpunter]

I am in Microsoft exchange outlook web access and Blackboard Web ct. When I right click I says open, open in new window, open in new tab, save target as, print target, blog, all alcelerators...
When it opens, it asks me to allow open or save, if I say open, it asks me to allow the Microsoft wordpad application to have access, if I say save, I can save it and it will open, lots of steps, just want to be able to reset it and tell it to open the programs with word, not wordpad.
Thanks for your patience!

[ScottGem]

Ahh, that's why you don't have the right click, you need to save the file to your system FIRST, then use Windows Explorer to find and open it. Or you can just do this with ANY WPS file.

[agpunter]

Now when I save the target, it is still the word pad and still doesn't give me the opportunity to choose a different program and it isn't opening the way I needed it to. Is there a way to change that?

[ScottGem]

Can you give us a screen shot of what you are doing. This always works for me.

[InfoJunkie4Life]

I think the trouble the OP seems to be having is fairly obvious. When she clicks a link to a wps file she no longer has the dialogue box appear that says which application to open the file with. It just says Open, Save, or Cancel, and the program is already selected. Right now it says Would You Like to Open this With WordPad? Open, Save, Cancel. She can't say, I want to open it in word, or works.

I know how to fix this in Firefox, but not IE.

Good Luck Guys...

[agpunter]

That is exactly my problem... I don't know how to get those options back, help:-)

[ScottGem]

that is exactly my problem...i don't know how to get those options back, help:-)

Have you downloaded the WPS file to your hard drive? Are you using Windows Explorer (NOT Internet Explorer) to find the file?

[InfoJunkie4Life]

Just a thought, you could reset IE's settings back to default, that may do the trick. You'll lose some settings, but you should be able to restore them without a problem as you come across them.

[ScottGem]

Just a thought, you could reset IE's settings back to default, that may do the trick. You'll lose some settings, but you should be able to restore them without a problem as you come across them.

The problem is not IE. Associations are stored with the operating system, not IE. IE just doesn't give you a way to set Associations so they have to be set through the OS. The problem is the OP is not following instructions to download the file and open using WINDOWS Explorer.

[InfoJunkie4Life]

I understand that, however there should be a way to have the option within the dialogue box. Finding a work around doesn't exactly solve the problem. The settings are actually stored within the registry, however changing them in IE may do the trick. I was looking around and I can't find the exact registry setting that will change it back.

As you can see in the attachment, there is no way to choose which program to choose open with after downloads, sometimes there's a drop-down menu with a browse button so that you may choose which program to open the file with. I think that's what the OP is asking about.

[ScottGem]

Exactly! You can't set associations from IE. You have to do it from Windows Explorer! If the OP would follow my instructions to Save the file then find it in Windows Explorer and right click he can fix this.

[InfoJunkie4Life]

Now I see... yayyy windows...

[agpunter]

How do I get to windows explorer?