Open a file with a different editor

Before you start

• Use the computer app, with a project that’s on that computer. See What are editor plugins?

Steps

1. Open the file’s menu

   In Files, right-click a project file or document, or point to it and select the … button. The Open with group at the top lists every editor that can open it. Default marks the one it normally opens with.

2. Choose an editor

   The file opens in that editor, or its open tab switches to it.

3. Switch editors from the tab

   Select the small icon at the start of the file’s tab to see the same list. A check marks the editor the tab is using.

4. Make it the default for that file type

   In the tab’s editor menu, choose the option that starts with Always open, such as Always open .md files with Code. It appears when the tab’s editor isn’t already the default.

5. Restart the editor if it acts up

   In the tab’s editor menu, choose the Restart option for that editor.

Good to know

• An editor you choose from Open with applies to that tab. If you close the tab and open the file again, it opens with the default.
• You can also set defaults on the Plugins shelf. On Files home, select Plugins, open a plugin card’s menu, and choose an Always open option.
• The default for .md files also applies to documents.
• To make a built-in editor the default again, switch the tab to Markdown or Code, then choose its Always open option.
• Pictures and other files that aren’t text always open in Files’ own viewer.
• If a plugin can’t edit a file without losing something, the file switches to Code, or to the document editor for a document, and a note at the top says why.
• Defaults are saved on each computer.
• New plugin for .md… at the end of the Open with group starts a new plugin for that file type. See Create or change an editor plugin.

If something goes wrong

“couldn’t open this file”

The message starts with the plugin’s name and shows details below it. Select Try again. For a plugin you made, select Edit with its name to fix it with an agent, or choose a different editor from Open with.

“didn’t connect to Enjoy”

The plugin’s page loaded but never connected. The full message, after the plugin’s name, is “didn’t connect to Enjoy. Its page needs to load enjoy.js and call enjoy.connect().” Edit the plugin and pass that message to your agent.

There’s no Open with group

You’re in the web app or the iPhone app, or you’re using another computer’s project. Plugins only work in the computer app for projects on that computer. Menus in the archive don’t have the group either; restore the document first. See Archive and restore documents.