Having trouble with file associations and Calibre

[Magelord]

I notice that many people seem to have trouble with Calibre seeming to take over file associations that they believe they didn't ask for. (I'm aware of issues with Windows 8 causing this.)

My problem is the opposite. I can't seem to set the file associations. At all!

I can - from what I've tried - drag files one at a time into the Calibre library but most ebook files are either associated with another reader (Kindle Reader, Adobe PDF) or they are totally not associated with anything.

I'm running Calibre 64bit on a Windows 7 PC.

I found a file with a lot of old public domain books in epub format and I downloaded it.

But epub isn't associated with anything. And I can't seem to associate it manually, with Calibre.

I've tried several suggestions that come up on google but none work.

1. Start> Default Programs> Set Your Default Programs: Calibre isn't on the list of programs that displays and there is no way to add to the list.



2. Start> Default Programs> Associate a file type or protocol with a program: .epub is nowhere in the list of extensions that I can associate a program with and I don't see a way to add it to the list.



Both of these "fixes" on google showed Calibre in the list of programs to select in #1 and/or .epub in the file extensions in #2. I don't see either one.

NOTE 1: Calibre does show up in the list of installed programs in Start> Control Panel> Programs and Features



NOTE 2: Thinking this might have been a messed up file in Calibre I tried repairing it. No luck. So, I uninstalled it, downloaded Version 3.48 from calibre-ebook.com and installed it fresh.

No difference.


Scratching my head on this one.....

[theducks]

Something blocked / cleaned your Registry of e-book types (extensions).

I am surprised your uninstall - install did not replace these

[Magelord]

Originally Posted by theducks

Something blocked / cleaned your Registry of e-book types (extensions).

I am surprised your uninstall - install did not replace these

So am I. That's what seemed so odd about this.

I did just find something - because of your comment - on sevenforums that seems to have done the trick.

I took one of the .epub files and right clicked it, and selected open.

The box that popped up asked if I want windows to look for something to open it or manually select it.

Chose manual selection.

Then navigated to C:\\Windows\program files\calibre2 and selected the main Calibre program icon.

Then hit OK.

File associations showed up for that file and all the other .epub files in that folder.

Went back and looked and .epub is now in the main list of file extensions for setting associations.

It still doesn't show up in the list of programs at Start>Default Programs>Set Your Default Programs but at least I can work with this now that it shows up in the extension list.

Having read about others having issues with Calibre apparently changing file associations when they didn't want it done, I found that when Calibre is installed, it's supposed to tell windows it's available for setting associations but not actually change any.

In my case, it's not even telling windows it's available.

But this manual selection of the program is a good workaround.

[theducks]

IMHO I have ebook-Viewer as the default open, ebook-edit is an alternate.
I DON'T have calibre.exe as the open, as it would add (and I prefer to do that by hand )

[BetterRed]

You should not need to associate a file type with a program if all you want do is drag drop files of that type into that program. FX: you should be able to drag an mp4 video into the calibre book list and have a book item created with the mp4 in the book folder -- without changing Default Programs or the file type Open With list for mp4 files.

Try running the MS System File Checker tool

BR

[Magelord]

Originally Posted by theducks

IMHO I have ebook-Viewer as the default open, ebook-edit is an alternate.
I DON'T have calibre.exe as the open, as it would add (and I prefer to do that by hand )

Eeeeah.... I ended up realizing that after the fact. I have to change the association to the viewer rather than the main program.



Thanks!

[Magelord]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

You should not need to associate a file type with a program if all you want do is drag drop files of that type into that program. FX: you should be able to drag an mp4 video into the calibre book list and have a book item created with the mp4 in the book folder -- without changing Default Programs or the file type Open With list for mp4 files.

Try running the MS System File Checker tool

BR

In my case the only other "reader" I have is Adobe and it only works on PDF files.



So having a default set to Calibre for .mobi, .epub, .azw, etc. works well for me. I don't have any other devices to open them.



Thanks for the tip on the file checker tool. It is indeed helpful.