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Knowledge base article 116

File Association trouble-shooter

If several versions of Ability are installed over a period of time, Windows can get confused about file associations and related icons. Typical problems are:

Wrong file icon displayed for Write documents
Ability Write not appearing in list of "Open With" programs
Unable to associate non-Ability file types (e.g .doc) with Ability.

The fix below is written for Ability Write 4 but could equally apply to other Ability applications (or any non-Ability application as well):

Step 1 - remove existing association

Select Start/My Documents
Select Tools/Folder Options
In the View tab ensure the "Hide extensions for known file types" is cleared
In the File Types tab, click on AWW (or the "problem" file type) and click Delete

Step 2 - fix the registry

Please ensure care is taken when editing the registry.

Select Start/Run, type REGEDIT and click OK
Browse to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications
Select Abwrite.exe (or the application causing the problem)
Press the Delete key
Exit REGEDIT

Step 3 - make new association

Select Start/My Documents
Right-click over the problem file type (e.g. .aww or .doc)
Select Open With and then Choose program
Check the "Always use selected program" box
Click Browse and browse into c:\program files\ability office 4
Click on "abwrite.exe" and OK

All should work normally.