Files exported with Explorer sign

[Wenzudeg]

Good evening to all!

For some unknown and obscure reason exported lists from BC are being saved with the Explorer sign! When clicking on them a web page with a lot of letters/numbers is opened. Tried to change the application with which it may be opened but the only options given are Notepad, Paint, VLC, Windows Media Player, Word and Wordpad!

Is there anyone here who can kindly help me change this. I do not think that Trip Manager will accept such files although the extension is still .gpx

Thanks for any help!

[Peobody]

What are your trying to do when you click a .gpx file from within Explorer?

Also, I am surprised that the .gpx extension did not automatically get associated with Basecamp when BC was installed, or the BC is not offered as a program to which you associate the .gpx extension. FWIW, on my Win 11 PC I do not have .gpx associated with a program. When I right click on a .gpx file I can the choose the "Open with" option in which Basecamp is listed, but I could then select the "Choose another app" option which will let me select any program installed on the PC.

[Wenzudeg]

I was not trying to do anything with Explorer.

Yesterday I was planning a few hikes to use on a trip to the Lake District with my family. I use Cicerone books for hike planning and Cicerone offers gpx downloads of the hikes listed in most of their books. I downloaded a folder that had 15 gpx files from their official website. As soon as I unzipped it, all files extracted had the Explorer sign and double clicking on them opened a garbled page of numbers and letters. Later on I amended on BC some routes which I am going to use on an upcoming motorcycle trip. I exported the list to a folder on the PC for eventual use on Trip Manager and the exported file had the same Explorer sign at the start of the filename. The extension remained .gpx though. I am working on Windows 10 if that is of any help.

[Wenzudeg]

on my Win 11 PC I do not have .gpx associated with a program. When I right click on a .gpx file I can the choose the "Open with" option in which Basecamp is listed, but I could then select the "Choose another app" option which will let me select any program installed on the PC.

Well, gpx files on my PC were not associated with any program... until yesterday! How can I disassociate them again? Is this a once-in-a-lifetime thing?!!!

[Peobody]

Well, gpx files on my PC were not associated with any program... until yesterday! How can I disassociate them again? Is this a once-in-a-lifetime thing?!!!

There is probably a registry hack that would remove a program association in a way that would leave no program association but that seem unnecessary considering you can change the association by changing the default app for the .gpx file type.

[lkraus]

I can understand not wanting Explore to be the default, but I would think setting a more desirable default would be acceptable; you can still use right-click Open with to use a different app.

The set a better default, right-click the .gpx file, select Open with, select Choose another app. A larger list of apps should appear, but if you want a different default, scroll to the bottom of the list to Choose an app on your PC. From there, you can navigate to your preferred app. For example:

Untitled.png (72.37 KiB) Viewed 370 times

Then select "Always" to make that app your default.

[Wenzudeg]

I can understand not wanting Explore to be the default, but I would think setting a more desirable default would be acceptable; you can still use right-click Open with to use a different app.

The set a better default, right-click the .gpx file, select Open with, select Choose another app. A larger list of apps should appear, but if you want a different default, scroll to the bottom of the list to Choose an app on your PC. From there, you can navigate to your preferred app. For example:
Untitled.png
Then select "Always" to make that app your default.

Have been there but in the list of apps after 'Choose an app on my pc' there is no app that can be set as default.

[lkraus]

The first 'Choose another app' shows a list of apps that Windows thinks might be suitable. During their installation, the file extension was registered as usable by the program.

Untitled.png (151.13 KiB) Viewed 332 times

There is a second 'Choose an app on your PC' at the bottom of that list which opens the File Manager window I posted earlier. There, you can browse through "Programs" or "Program Files (x86)" to choose the executable file of the app you want, which will return you to the first list. Select 'Always'.

Default apps for a file extension can usually be changed from Windows Settings→ Apps→ Default Apps→ Choose Defaults by File Type. Even though Basecamp is already my default app for .gpx files, I was surprised to find that ".gpx" is not listed and Basecamp is not in the list of registered apps.

[Peobody]

Even though Basecamp is already my default app for .gpx files, I was surprised to find that ".gpx" is not listed and Basecamp is not in the list of registered apps.

Same for me except I never set Basecamp as the default for .gpx. I can right-click then do "Open with" and be offered Basecamp but that is likely because I opened one with Basecamp once using the "Just once" option and realized that I preferred to start Basecamp and then import the .gpx so that I could control which list folder it imported into.

[Wenzudeg]

It used to be like that for me up until a couple of days ago

How can I disassociate .gpx from ANY program/application and choose EVERY TIME what to open with?