How to Use Open Office to Automatically Open Word Files

By default, when you double-click on a Word (DOC) file, it opens automatically in Microsoft Word, since that is the program that creates it. If you prefer to open such file in Open Office, you can run the Open Office application chooser to open the Word file.

Instructions

1. 

   Right-click on any Word file in Windows Explorer or My Computer. A popup menu appears.

2. 

   Choose the "Open with" and then "Choose Program." The "Open With" dialog box appears.

3. 

   Look for the swriter program, which is the Open Office word processing program. Click to select it.

4. Click a checkmark into the checkbox labeled "Always Use the Selected Program to Open this Kind of File."

5. Click the "OK" button. The Word file opens in Open Office Writer. Close the file.

6. 

   Return to either My Computer or Windows Explorer. Note that the icons for the Word files have changed to Writer document icons. Clicking on a Word file now automatically opens it in Writer.

References

• Changing File Associations