Getting docs to recognize PDF-XChange Editor or Viewer

[genegold]

I've just done a clean install of Win 11 and have both Editor and Viewer installed. One thing, though, is the pdf document icons on my desktop are not recognizing as associated with either. Instead, if I click on a document, it starts to reinstall the program (at this moment, Viewer). With both Editor and Viewer, I've tried making each the default PDF program, but neither takes, unlike with other programs (or previously with Win 10). I've also tried Save As, or opening the document from a backup drive and saving it on the main drive. Letting a document do a reinstallation hasn't had an effect either. Below is a screenshot of three pdfs that have been untouched by my machinations. What am I missing?

PDFs that don't show program saved in.jpg

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

Hello genegold,

Please try this:

https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... extensions


Regards.

[genegold]

Thanks. Neither of the first two methods worked with either Editor or Viewer as default after reboots, and there is no block entry in the registry.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, genegold

From your screenshot it looks like the thumbnails/shell extensions are working properly already, so I am unsure what Dimitar's suggestion was targeting. But I want to go back to your first post for a second, this line specifically:

if I click on a document, it starts to reinstall the program

this would likely indicate that you mistakenly set the installer itself as the default application for use on opening a PDF, instead of the installed Editor of Viewer application.

Can I ask you to please follow the steps below to configure the default app through windows itself. Along the way, please take a screenshot of all the options presented under the PDF category, especially if you see more than one entry for either the Editor or Viewer.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... PDF-Viewer

Kind regards,

[genegold]

If Viewer and Editor (free) no longer explicitly identify their document icons on the desktop, that's a big change. Has Tracker changed the way it identifies documents made by its programs? There's definitely nothing that stands out to identify Viewer or Editor docs now, per the screenshot I posted. Nothing like Viewer or Editor used to do, and others continue to do: MS Word and Excel docs, and jpg's and png's indirectly so in Paint.net. All I know is that your document icons in both Viewer and Editor were clearly identified in Win 8 and 10 and now are no longer so (screenshots below).

I've been setting file type defaults, including .pdf, for a long time. Early this morning I was able to get both Viewer and Editor to correctly open the documents I referred to in my OP screenshot, but forgot to mention it in my reply, being focused on the the icons. But just to be sure, I used RevoPro to uninstall both programs and then reset defaults with each. Docs opened (no install process), but icons remain hardly identifiable . New standard for Tracker?

The first screenshot is from March 2017, either Windows 8.1 or 10. The second is Windows 10 two weeks ago (photo).

Desktop 3-5-17 partial - probably Win 8.jpg

Windows 10 desktop partial view 8-17-25.JPG

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, genegold

Nothing has changed on this front, and files should still see a preview, assuming that an older thumbnail is not already present for that document.
You can use the steps in these two articles to re-register our shell extensions, and clear the thumbnail cache:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... extensions
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... ails-cache
Which may help to show your icons like so:

image.png

image(1).png

image(2).png

Kind regards,

[genegold]

Your colleague already had me try the three options in the first link, without success. No more today. Nor with the second link's instructions. I tried setting Viewer and Editor as default, with lots of reboots. Nothing has changed from my OP.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, genegold

sorry, to be clear, the very first screenshot you sent, which contains what you claimed to be files "untouched by your machinations" is what our preview should look like, for essentially every version of the software since V7 at least (possibly longer, though I started working here during V7, so I am not as familiar with the older products.

What you show there matches what I showed in my first screenshot. If you are seeing what you see there, you can use Ctrl+mouse wheel to zoom in and out, if you zoom in enough (making the icons larger) you will see the small Editor icon in the corner, like in my second screenshot.

What you show in your more recent screenshot, if unaffected by the thumbnails reset, may instead indicate that you have enabled the option in windows to show file preview/thumbnails entirely. You can double check that by opening any file explorer window, and on the "View" tab, click "options". In that popup, click again on the "view" tab, and ensure that the checkbox for "always show icons, never thumbnails" is UNCHECKED.

image.png

Kind regards,

[genegold]

Ok, the change in Folder Options fixed it. Now they look like they always have. Thanks.

PDF Xchange Viewer icons.jpg

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]