Set Default text editor

[joshkmartinez]

How do I set a default text editor? I would like to click on a text file and have it automatically open into sublime text (if possible as administrator). I have looked in the default programs in the windows settings and have not found anything to change this setting.

 

Any help or comment is appreciated

[Aura]

Hi josh

If you're talking about .txt files, simply right-click on one, select "Open with", "Choose another app", select Sublime Text in the list and then check "Always use this app to open .txt files". If you don't see Sublime Text listed, go at the bottom of the list and click on "Look for another app on this PC" and browse to the Sublime Text executable, which should be:

C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 3\sublime_text.exe

 

[joshkmartinez]

Thanks Again Aura! You have helped me a lot!

[Aura]

No problem, you're welcome

[exile360]

I just thought I'd add that in order to have it always open as Administrator you simply need to right-click on sublime_text.exe and select Properties then click the Compatibility tab and check the box next to Run this program as an administrator and click Apply then OK.  Just be aware that this will also mean that any time you open Sublime it will run as admin and, if User Account Control is still turned on/set to default, it will also display a UAC prompt that you'll need to click "Yes" to.  If you wish to have it so that you can still open Sublime without a UAC prompt sometimes then you should be able to create a second copy of the file and change the name to something like sublime_text(noadmin).exe or whatever you like and leave it as-is in the Compatibility tab (you'll likely have to create the copy elsewhere, such as on your desktop, rename the new copy, then move the copy back to the Sublime program folder as creating files under Program Files also gets blocked by UAC by default).

[joshkmartinez]

Good to know. Thanks, exile.

[exile360]

You're most welcome

I've had quite a bit of experience with this kind of thing myself (configuring programs to run as admin etc.), especially since I was one of the folks who jumped onto the early alpha/betas of Vista back in the XP days when most software needed to run as admin in Vista in order to work properly.

I'm guessing maybe you're doing some editing of game or other software configuration files with the text editor or something similar, but because of where the config files are stored, you can't save them after editing where they're installed unless you run the text editor as admin, right?  You don't have to answer of course, as it's your business.  I'm just taking a guess as it's a task I've often found myself needing to perform, especially with some games that don't like to save the settings I configure through their menus/options, forcing me to do so manually.

Edited May 17, 2017 by exile360