Warning, /plasma/kde-cli-tools/doc/kcontrol6/filetypes/index.docbook is written in an unsupported language. File is not indexed.

 <?xml version="1.0" ?>
 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//KDE//DTD DocBook XML V4.5-Based Variant V1.1//EN"
 "dtd/kdedbx45.dtd" [
 <!ENTITY % addindex "IGNORE">
 <!ENTITY % English "INCLUDE" > <!-- change language only here -->
 ]>
 
 <article id="filetypes" lang="&language;">
 <articleinfo>
 
 <title>File Associations</title>
 <authorgroup>
 <author>&Mike.McBride; &Mike.McBride.mail;</author>
 <!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
 </authorgroup>
 
 <date>2016-11-11</date>
 <releaseinfo>Plasma 5.8</releaseinfo>
 
 <keywordset>
 <keyword>KDE</keyword>
 <keyword>Systemsettings</keyword>
 <keyword>files association</keyword>
 <keyword>association</keyword>
 </keywordset>
 </articleinfo>
 <sect1 id="file-assoc">
 <title>File Associations</title>
 
 <sect2 id="file-assoc-intro">
 <title>Introduction</title>
 
 <para>One of the most convenient aspects of &kde;, is its ability to
 automatically match a data file with its application.  As an example,
 when you click on your favorite &calligrawords; document in the filemanager, &kde;
 automatically starts &calligrawords;, and automatically loads that file into
 &calligrawords; so you can begin working on it.</para>
 
 <para>In the example above, the &calligrawords; Data file is
 <emphasis>associated</emphasis> with &calligrawords; (the application).  These
 file associations are crucial to the functioning of &kde;.</para>
 
 <para>When &kde; is installed, it automatically creates hundreds of file
 associations to many of the most common data types. These initial
 associations are based on the most commonly included software, and the
 most common user preferences.</para>
 
 <para>Unfortunately, &kde; can not:</para>
 
 <itemizedlist>
 <listitem><para>predict every possible combination of software and data files</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>prepare for file formats not yet invented</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>or predict everyone's favorite application for certain file formats</para></listitem>
 </itemizedlist>
 
 <para>You can change your current file associations or add new file
 associations using this module.</para>
 
 <para>Each file association is recorded as a &MIME; type.
 &MIME; stands for <quote>Multipurpose Internet Mail
 Extensions</quote>. It allows a computer to determine the type of file,
 without opening and analyzing the format of each and every file.</para>
 
 </sect2>
 
 <sect2 id="file-assoc-use">
 <title>How to use this module</title>
 
 <para>You can start this module
 by opening &systemsettings; and selecting <menuchoice><guimenu>Applications</guimenu>
 <guimenuitem>File Associations</guimenuitem></menuchoice> in the
 <guilabel>Personalization</guilabel> category. Alternatively, you can start it by
 typing <command>kcmshell5 filetypes</command> from the terminal or &krunner;.</para>
 
 <para>The file associations are organized into several categories, and
 at a minimum you will have:</para>
 
 <orderedlist>
 <listitem><para>Application</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>Audio</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>Image</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>Inode</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>Message</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>Multipart</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>Text</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>Video</para></listitem>
 </orderedlist>
 
 <para>All of the file associations are sorted into one of these
 categories.</para>
 
 <note><para>There is no functional difference between any of the
 categories.  These categories are designed to help organize your file
 associations, but they do not alter the associations in any way.
 </para></note>
 
 <para>The categories are listed in the box labeled <guilabel>Known
 Types</guilabel>.</para>
 
 <para>You can explore each of these categories, and see the file
 associations contained within each one, by simply double-clicking on the
 category name.  You will be presented with a list of the associated
 &MIME; types under that category.</para>
 
 <tip><para>You can also search for a particular &MIME; type by using the
 search box. The search box is labeled <guilabel>Search for file type or
 filename pattern...</guilabel> and is located above the category list.</para>
 
 <para>Simply type the first letter of the &MIME; type you are interested
 in.  The categories are automatically expanded, and only the &MIME; types
 that include that letter are displayed.</para>
 
 <para>You can then enter a second character and the &MIME; types will be
 further limited to &MIME; types containing those two
 characters.</para></tip>
 
 <sect3 id="file-assoc-use-add">
 <title>Adding a new MIME type</title>
 
 <para>If you want to add a new &MIME; type to your file associations,
 you can click on the <guibutton>Add...</guibutton> button.  A small
 dialog box will appear.  You select the category from the drop down
 box labeled <guilabel>Group:</guilabel>, and type the &MIME; name in the
 blank labeled <guilabel>Type name:</guilabel>.  Click <guibutton>OK</guibutton>
 to add the new &MIME; type, or click <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> to not add
 any new &MIME; types.</para>
 
 </sect3>
 
 <sect3 id="file-assoc-use-del">
 <title>Removing a MIME type</title>
 
 <para>If you want to remove a &MIME; type, simply select the &MIME;
 type you want to delete by clicking once with the mouse on the &MIME;
 type name.  Then click the button labeled
 <guibutton>Remove</guibutton>.  The &MIME; type will be deleted
 immediately.</para>
 <para>You can remove only your own &MIME; types.</para>
 
 </sect3>
 
 <sect3 id="file-assoc-use-edit">
 <title>Editing a MIME types properties</title>
 
 <para>Before you can edit a &MIME; types property, you must first
 specify which &MIME; type.  Simply browse through the categories until
 you find the &MIME; type you want to edit, then click once on it with
 the mouse.</para>
 
 <para>As soon as you have selected the &MIME; type, the current values of
 the &MIME; type will appear in the module window.</para>
 
 <para>You will notice the current values are split into two tabs:
 <guilabel>General</guilabel> and <guilabel>Embedding</guilabel></para>
 
 <variablelist>
 <varlistentry>
 <term><guilabel>General</guilabel></term>
 <listitem>
 <para>There are 4 properties for each &MIME; type in this tab:</para>
 
 <orderedlist>
 <listitem><para><guilabel>Mime Type Icon</guilabel> is the icon that
 will be visible when using &dolphin; or &konqueror; as a file
 manager.</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para><guilabel>Filename Patterns</guilabel> is a search
 pattern which &kde; will use to determine the &MIME; type.</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para><guilabel>Description:</guilabel> is a short description
 of the file type. This is for your benefit only.</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para><guilabel>Application Preference Order</guilabel>
 determines which applications will be associated with the specified
 &MIME; type.</para></listitem>
 </orderedlist>
 </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
 <varlistentry>
 <term><guilabel>Embedding Tab</guilabel></term>
 <listitem>
 <para>The Embedding tab allows you to determine if a file will be
 viewed within a filemanager window, or by starting the
 application.</para>
 </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 </variablelist>
 
 </sect3>
 
 <sect3 id="file-assoc-use-icon">
 <title>Changing the Icon</title>
 
 <para>To change the icon, simply click on the Icon button.  A dialog box
 will appear, which will show you all available icons.  Simply click once
 with the mouse on the icon of your choice, and click
 <guibutton>OK</guibutton>.</para>
 
 </sect3>
 
 <sect3 id="file-assoc-use-pattern">
 <title>Editing the MIME type patterns</title>
 
 <para>The box labeled <guilabel>Filename Patterns</guilabel>, determines
 what files will be included within this &MIME; type.</para>
 
 <para>Usually, files are selected based on their suffix.  (Examples:
 Files that end with <literal role="extension">.wav</literal> are sound
 files, using the WAV format and files that end in <literal
 role="extension">.c</literal> are program files written in C).</para>
 
 <para>You should enter your filename mask in this combo box.</para>
 
 <para>The asterisk (<literal>*</literal>) is a wildcard character that
 will be used with nearly every &MIME; type mask. A complete discussion
 of wildcards is beyond the scope of this manual, but it is important
 to understand that the asterisk (in this context),
 <quote>matches</quote> any number of characters.  As an example:
 <userinput>*.pdf</userinput> will match
 <filename>Datafile.pdf</filename>, <filename>Graphics.pdf</filename>
 and <filename>User.pdf</filename>, but not <filename>PDF</filename>,
 <filename>Datafile.PDF</filename>, or
 <filename>.pdf</filename>.</para>
 
 <tip><para>It is very beneficial to have multiple masks.  One for lower
 case, one for upper case, &etc;  This will help ensure that &kde; can
 determine the file type more accurately.</para></tip>
 
 </sect3>
 
 <sect3 id="file-assoc-use-desc">
 <title>Editing a MIME types description</title>
 
 <para>You can type a short description of the &MIME; type in the text
 box labeled <guilabel>Description:</guilabel>.  This label is to help
 you, it does not affect the function of the &MIME; type.</para>
 
 </sect3>
 
 <sect3 id="file-assoc-use-app">
 <title>Editing the application associations</title>
 
 <para>There are five buttons (<guibutton>Move Up</guibutton>,
 <guibutton>Move Down</guibutton>, <guibutton>Add...</guibutton>, <guibutton>Edit...</guibutton> and
 <guibutton>Remove</guibutton>) and a list box (which lists the
 applications) which are used to configure the applications.</para>
 
 <para>The list box lists all of the applications associated with a
 specific &MIME; type.  The list is in a specific order.  The top
 application is the first application tried.  The next application down
 the list is the second, &etc;</para>
 
 <note><para>What do you mean there is more than one application per
 &MIME; type?  Why is this necessary?</para>
 
 <para>We started out by saying that &kde; comes preconfigured with
 hundreds of file associations.  The reality is, each system that &kde;
 is installed on has a different selection of applications.  By
 allowing multiple associations per &MIME; type, &kde; can continue to
 operate when a certain application is not installed on the
 system.</para>
 
 <para>As an example:</para>
 <para>For the &MIME; type <literal>pdf</literal>, there are two
 applications associated with this file type.  The first program is
 called &okular;.  If your system does not
 have &okular; installed, then &kde;
 automatically starts the second application &krita;.
 As you can see, this will help keep &kde; running
 strong  as you add and subtract applications.</para></note>
 
 <para>We have established that the order is important.  You can change
 the order of the applications by clicking once with the mouse on the
 application you want to move, and then clicking either <guibutton>Move
 Up</guibutton> or <guibutton>Move Down</guibutton>.  This will shift
 the currently selected application up or down the list of
 applications. </para>
 
 <para>You can add new applications to the list by clicking the button
 labeled <guibutton>Add...</guibutton>.  A dialog box will appear. Using the
 dialog box, you can select the application you want to use for this &MIME;
 type.  Click <guibutton>OK</guibutton> when you are done, and the
 application will be added to the current list.</para>
 
 <para>To change the options of an application for a particular &MIME; type
 select it in the list and then press the <guibutton>Edit...</guibutton> button.
 This opens a new dialog with <guilabel>General</guilabel>, <guilabel>Permissions</guilabel>,
 <guilabel>Application</guilabel> and <guilabel>Details</guilabel> tabs.
 On the <guilabel>Application</guilabel> tab you can edit <guilabel>Name:</guilabel>,
 <guilabel>Description:</guilabel> and <guilabel>Comment:</guilabel>.
 In the <guilabel>Command:</guilabel> field you can have several place holders
 following the command, which will be replaced with the actual values
 when the actual program is run:</para>
 <itemizedlist>
 <listitem><para>%f - a single file name</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>%F - a list of files; use for applications that can open several local files 
 at once</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>%u - a single &URL;</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>%U - a list of &URL;s</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>%d - the folder of the file to open</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>%D - a list of folders</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>%i - the icon</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>%m - the mini-icon</para></listitem>
 <listitem><para>%c - the caption</para></listitem>
 </itemizedlist>
 
 <para>You can remove an application (thereby ensuring that the
 application will never run with this &MIME; type by clicking once on the
 name of the application, and clicking the <guibutton>Remove</guibutton>
 button.</para>
 
 <tip><para>It is a good idea to use the <guibutton>Move Up</guibutton>
 and <guibutton>Move Down</guibutton> buttons to adjust the unwanted
 application to a lower position in the list, rather than deleting the
 application from the list entirely.  Once you have deleted an
 application, if your preferred application should become compromised,
 there will not be an application to view the data document.</para></tip>
 
 </sect3>
 
 <sect3 id="file-assoc-embedding">
 <title>Embedding</title>
 <para>These settings are valid only for &konqueror; used as file manager, &dolphin;
 is not able to use embedded views and opens a file always in the associated application.</para>
 <para>By clicking on the <guilabel>Embedding</guilabel> tab, you are
 presented with four radio buttons in the <guilabel>Left Click Action in Konqueror</guilabel>
 group.  These determine how the filemanager views the selected &MIME; type:</para>
 
 <variablelist>
 <varlistentry><term>Show file in embedded viewer</term>
 <listitem><para>If this is selected, the file will be shown <emphasis>within</emphasis> the filemanager window.</para></listitem></varlistentry>
 <varlistentry><term>Show file in separate viewer</term>
 <listitem><para>This will cause a separate window to be created when showing this &MIME; type.</para></listitem></varlistentry>
 <varlistentry><term>Use settings for 'application' group</term>
 <listitem><para>This will cause the &MIME; type to use the settings for the &MIME; type group.
 (if you are editing an audio &MIME; type, then the settings for the audio group are used).</para></listitem></varlistentry>
 <varlistentry><term>Ask whether to save to disk instead</term>
 <listitem><para>This setting applies only to &konqueror; in browser mode and determines
 if the file is shown in an embedded viewer or if you are asked to save the file to disk instead.</para></listitem></varlistentry>
 </variablelist>
 
 <para>Below this is a listbox labeled <guilabel>Services Preference
 Order</guilabel>.</para>
 
 <para>When you use a filemanager like &dolphin; or &konqueror;, you can
 <mousebutton>right</mousebutton> mouse click, and a menu will with an
 entry labeled <guimenuitem>Open with...</guimenuitem> will appear.  This box
 lists the applications that will appear, in the order they will
 appear, under this menu.</para>
 
 <para>You can use the <guibutton>Move Up</guibutton> and
 <guibutton>Move Down</guibutton> buttons to change the order.</para>
 
 </sect3>
 
 <sect3 id="file-assoc-use-done">
 <title>Making changes permanent</title>
 
 <para>When you are done making any changes to &MIME; types, you can click
 <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> to make your changes permanent, but keep
 you in this module.</para>
 
 </sect3>
 </sect2>
 
 </sect1>
 
 </article>