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<?xml version="1.0" ?>
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<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.2-Based Variant V1.1//EN"
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"dtd/kdex.dtd" [
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<!ENTITY % addindex "IGNORE">
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<!ENTITY % English "INCLUDE" > <!-- change language only here -->
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]>
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<article lang="&language;">
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<articleinfo>
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<title>File Associations</title>
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<authorgroup>
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<author>&Mike.McBride; &Mike.McBride.mail;</author>
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<!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
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</authorgroup>
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<date>2003-10-13</date>
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<releaseinfo>3.2</releaseinfo>
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<keywordset>
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<keyword>KDE</keyword>
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<keyword>KControl</keyword>
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<keyword>files association</keyword>
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<keyword>association</keyword>
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</keywordset>
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</articleinfo>
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<sect1 id="file-assoc">
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<title>File Associations</title>
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<sect2 id="file-assoc-intro">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para>One of the most convenient aspects of &tde;, is its ability to
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automatically match a data file, with its application. As an example,
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when you click on your favorite &kword; document in &konqueror;, &tde;
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automatically starts &kword;, and automatically loads that file into
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&kword; so you can begin working on it.</para>
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<para>In the example above, the &kword; Data file is
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<emphasis>associated</emphasis> with &kword; (the application). These
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file associations are crucial to the functioning of &tde;.</para>
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<para>When &tde; is installed, it automatically creates hundreds of file
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associations to many of the most common data types. These initial
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associations are based on the most commonly included software, and the
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most common user preferences.</para>
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<para>Unfortunately, &tde; can not:</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>predict every possible combination of software and data files</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>prepare for file formats not yet invented</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>or predict everyone's favorite application for certain file formats</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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<para>You can change your current file associations or add new file
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associations using this module.</para>
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<para>Each file association is recorded as a mime type.
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&MIME; stands for <quote>Multipurpose Internet Mail
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Extensions</quote>. It allows a computer to determine the type of file,
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without opening and analyzing the format of each and every file.</para>
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</sect2>
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<sect2 id="file-assoc-use">
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<title>How to use this module</title>
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<para>The file associations are organized into several categories, and
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at a minimum you will have:</para>
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<orderedlist>
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<listitem><para>Application</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Audio</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Image</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Inode</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Message</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Multipart</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Print</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Text</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Video</para></listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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<para>All of the file associations are sorted into one of these
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categories.</para>
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<para>There is also an overview category <quote>All</quote>, which
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displays all the file types in one list, without categorizing
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them.</para>
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<note><para>There is no functional difference between any of the
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categories. These categories are designed to help organize your file
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associations, but they do not alter the associations in any way.
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</para></note>
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<para>The categories are listed in the box labeled <guilabel>Known
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Types</guilabel>.</para>
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<para>You can explore each of these categories, and see the file
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associations contained within each one, by simply double-clicking on the
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category name. You will be presented with a list of the associated
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mime-types under that category.</para>
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<tip><para>You can also search for a particular &MIME; type by using the
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search box. The search box is labeled <guilabel>Find filename
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pattern</guilabel> and is located above the category list.</para>
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<para>Simply type the first letter of the &MIME; type you are interested
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in. The categories are automatically expanded, and only the mime-types
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that include that letter are displayed.</para>
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<para>You can then enter a second character and the mime-types will be
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further limited to mime types containing those two
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characters.</para></tip>
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<sect3 id="file-assoc-use-add">
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<title>Adding a new mime type</title>
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<para>If you want to add a new &MIME; type to your file associations,
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you can click on the <guibutton>Add...</guibutton> button. A small
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dialog box will appear. You select the category from the drop down
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box, and type the &MIME; name in the blank labeled <guilabel>Type
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name</guilabel>. Click <guibutton>OK</guibutton> to add the new mime
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type, or click <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> to not add any new
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mime-types.</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3 id="file-assoc-use-del">
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<title>Removing a mime type</title>
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<para>If you want to remove a &MIME; type, simply select the &MIME;
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type you want to delete by clicking once with the mouse on the &MIME;
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type name. Then click the button labeled
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<guibutton>Remove</guibutton>. The &MIME; type will be deleted
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immediately.</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3 id="file-assoc-use-edit">
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<title>Editing a mime types properties</title>
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<para>Before you can edit a &MIME; types property, you must first
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specify which &MIME; type. Simply browse through the categories until
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you find the &MIME; type you want to edit, then click once on it with
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the mouse.</para>
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<para>As soon as you have selected the &MIME; type, the current values of
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the &MIME; type will appear in the module window.</para>
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<para>You will notice the current values are split into two tabs:
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<guilabel>General</guilabel> and <guilabel>Embedding</guilabel></para>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>General</guilabel></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>There are 4 properties for each &MIME; type in this tab:</para>
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<orderedlist>
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Mime Type Icon</guilabel> is the icon that
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will be visible when using &konqueror; as a file
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manager.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Filename Patterns</guilabel> is a search
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pattern which &tde; will use to determine the &MIME; type.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Description</guilabel> is a short description
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of the file type. This is for your benefit only.</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para><guilabel>Application Preference Order</guilabel>
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determines which applications will be associated with the specified
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&MIME; type.</para></listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Embedding Tab</guilabel></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>The Embedding tab allows you to determine if an file will be
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viewed within a &konqueror; window, or by starting the
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application.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</sect3>
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<sect3 id="file-assoc-use-icon">
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<title>Changing the Icon</title>
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<para>To change the icon, simply click on the Icon button. A dialog box
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will appear, which will show you all available icons. Simply click once
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with the mouse on the icon of your choice, and click
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<guibutton>OK</guibutton>.</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3 id="file-assoc-use-pattern">
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<title>Editing the mime-type patterns</title>
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<para>The box labeled <guilabel>Filename Patterns</guilabel>, determines
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what files will be included within this mime-type.</para>
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<para>Usually, files are selected based on their suffix. (Examples:
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Files that end with <literal role="extension">.wav</literal> are sound
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files, using the WAV format and files that end in <literal
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role="extension">.c</literal> are program files written in C).</para>
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<para>You should enter your filename mask in this combo box.</para>
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<para>The asterisk (<literal>*</literal>) is a wildcard character that
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will be used with nearly every mime type mask. A complete discussion
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of wildcards is beyond the scope of this manual, but it is important
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to understand that the asterisk (in this context),
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<quote>matches</quote> any number of characters. As an example:
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<userinput>*.pdf</userinput> will match
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<filename>Datafile.pdf</filename>, <filename>Graphics.pdf</filename>
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and <filename>User.pdf</filename>, but not <filename>PDF</filename>,
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<filename>Datafile.PDF</filename>, or
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<filename>.pdf</filename>.</para>
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<tip><para>It is very beneficial to have multiple masks. One for lower
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case, one for upper case, &etc; This will help ensure that &tde; can
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determine the file type more accurately.</para></tip>
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</sect3>
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<sect3 id="file-assoc-use-desc">
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<title>Editing a mime types description.</title>
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<para>You can type a short description of the &MIME; type in the text
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box labeled <guilabel>Description</guilabel>. This label is to help
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you, it does not affect the function of the &MIME; type.</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3 id="file-assoc-use-app">
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<title>Editing the application associations</title>
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<para>There are four buttons (<guibutton>Move Up</guibutton>,
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<guibutton>Move Down</guibutton>, <guibutton>Add</guibutton> and
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<guibutton>Remove</guibutton>) and a combo box (which lists the
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applications) which are used to configure the applications.</para>
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<para>The combo box lists all of the applications associated with a
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specific &MIME; type. The list is in a specific order. The top
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application is the first application tried. The next application down
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the list is the second, etc.</para>
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<note><para>What do you mean there is more than one application per
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&MIME; type? Why is this necessary?</para>
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<para>We started out by saying that &tde; comes preconfigured with
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hundreds of file associations. The reality is, each system that &tde;
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is installed on has a different selection of applications. By
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allowing multiple associations per &MIME; type, &tde; can continue to
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operate when a certain application is not installed on the
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system.</para>
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<para>As an example:</para>
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<para>For the &MIME; type <literal>pdf</literal>, there are two
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applications associated with this file type. The first program is
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called <application>PS Viewer</application>. If your system does not
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have <application>PS Viewer</application> installed, then &tde;
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automatically starts the second application <application>Adobe Acrobat
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Reader</application>. As you can see, this will help keep &tde; running
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strong as you add and subtract applications.</para></note>
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<para>We have established that the order is important. You can change
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the order of the applications by clicking once with the mouse on the
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application you want to move, and then clicking either <guibutton>Move
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Up</guibutton> or <guibutton>Move Down</guibutton>. This will shift
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the currently selected application up or down the list of
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applications.</para>
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<para>You can add new applications to the list by clicking the button
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labeled <guibutton>Add</guibutton>. A dialog box will appear. Using the
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dialog box, you can select the application you want to use for this mime
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type. Click <guibutton>OK</guibutton> when you are done, and the
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application will be added to the current list.</para>
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<para>You can remove an application (thereby ensuring that the
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application will never run with this &MIME; type by clicking once on the
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name of the application, and clicking the <guibutton>Remove</guibutton>
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button.</para>
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<tip><para>It is a good idea to use the <guibutton>Move Up</guibutton>
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and <guibutton>Move Down</guibutton> buttons to adjust the unwanted
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application to a lower position in the list, rather than deleting the
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application from the list entirely. Once you have deleted an
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application, if your preferred application should become compromised,
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there will not be an application to view the data document.</para></tip>
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</sect3>
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<sect3 id="file-assoc-embedding">
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<title>Embedding</title>
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<para>By clicking on the <guilabel>Embedding</guilabel> tab, you are
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presented with three radio buttons in the <guilabel>Left click
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action</guilabel> group. These determine how &konqueror; views the selected
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&MIME; type:</para>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry><term>Show file in embedded viewer</term>
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<listitem><para>If this is selected, the file will be shown <emphasis>within</emphasis> the &konqueror; window.</para></listitem></varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>Show file in separate viewer</term>
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<listitem><para>This will cause a separate window to be created when showing this mime-type.</para></listitem></varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>Use group settings.</term>
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<listitem><para>This will cause the mime-type to use the settings for the mime-type group.
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(if you are editing an audio mime type, then the settings for the audio group are used).</para></listitem></varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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<para>Below this is a listbox labeled <guilabel>Services Preference
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Order</guilabel>.</para>
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<para>When you are in &konqueror;, you can
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<mousebutton>right</mousebutton> mouse click, and a menu will with an
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entry labeled <guimenu>Preview with...</guimenu> will appear. This box
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lists the applications that will appear, in the order they will
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appear, under this menu.</para>
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<para>You can use the <guibutton>Move Up</guibutton> and
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<guibutton>Move Down</guibutton> buttons to change the order.</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3 id="file-assoc-use-done">
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<title>Making changes permanent</title>
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<para>When you are done making any changes to mime types, you can click
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<guibutton>Apply</guibutton> to make your changes permanent, but keep
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you in this module.</para>
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</sect3>
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</sect2>
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</sect1>
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</article>
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