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I should be able hit enter and everyfile I have selected should open in its associated application. This is not happening. If they are all the same filetype, for instance OpenOffice writer then it works. If they are different filetypes then it does not work. If any one is a pdf file then the system thinks I want to print them. I also tried right clicking. Indeed Open is an option but only if I select one file or multiple files of the same type. If they are not of the same type then "open" is not there and the only option is to 7zip or scan with Microsoft security essentials and the other regular options on a right click.

In XP I think I used to be able to just open them all. In the shell replacement XYplorer I can do this. In the file search utility called Everything (from voidtools) I can do this. So what is the trick in Windows 7 and why do I even need a trick.

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  • Change the question to: Why does Windows Explorer handle opening multiple files at the same time differently?
    – Ivo Flipse
    Mar 19, 2010 at 23:19

2 Answers 2

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I don't understand the question. When you select files and press Enter, the files get opened. Is this not you are looking for?

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  • or right-click -> open
    – ino
    Mar 19, 2010 at 1:46
  • I edited my original question to make it clearer.
    – IThink
    Mar 19, 2010 at 5:09
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Even Windows 10 pukes this, so answering this extremely old question is worthwhile. Presented is a good workaround but only for the case where you wish to open every [nonhidden] file in a folder, or every file of a particular extension (like .PDF). One example of usage is using or testing entire \Startup\ folders, or perhaps just the .LNK files. It's not an all encompassing generalized solution to your question but it's as close as I have been able to get, if helpful, and unfortunately it seems to be the best we've got for Windows 10. (Note for Windows 7: its Explorer or folder windows apparently will open multiple files but only of the same type or extension only, while ignoring e.g. a mixture of TXT and JPG.)

command line:
for %a in (*.*) do start "" "%a"
or
for %a in (C:\somefolder\*.*) do start "" "%a"

batch file (my great preference):
for %%a in (*.*) do start "" "%%a"
or
for %%a in (C:\somefolder\*.*) do start "" "%%a"

Of course you can limit to fewer files than *.*, to e.g. open every .JPG or every .PDF.

It won't choke on desktop.ini as long as it remains hidden.

Note, I would recommend not executing the batch file upon the folder that the batch file exists in, to prevent a potential recursive/runaway scenario. You might avoid that by putting the .BAT in a dir in your PATH. (Even then you might consider adding "IF NOT EXIST %0 EXIT" logic to prevent even that possibility.)

I wish I could provide a truly universal solution but apparently the productive way XP handled it has been destroyed by the Microsoft Deproductivity department, on a day when they were either bored or just couldn't think of any new uberidiotic ways to further deproductivate the Office interface.

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