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When I open Sumatra I need inverted colors by default. But even though I changed the shortcuts to: "/sumatraPDF.exe" -invert-colors the program runs without the flag when I double click a PDF file at a time where the program is closed.

How do I make sure the flag is used when double clicking PDF files?

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  • 1
    Your program shortcuts are unrelated to the extension association.
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Mar 23, 2017 at 13:31

1 Answer 1

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How do I make sure the flag is used when double clicking pdf files?

You need to modify the command that is run, using ftype:

  1. Find out the file type using assoc:

    assoc .pdf

  2. This will return something similar to:

    .pdf=AcroExch.Document.DC

  3. Now use ftype to get the current command run for a .pdf:

    ftype AcroExch.Document.DC

  4. This will return something similar to:

    AcroExch.Document.DC="C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\AcroRd32.exe" "%1"

  5. Now set up a new command with your extra flag:

    ftype AcroExch.Document.DC="C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\AcroRd32.exe" -invert-colors "%1"

Note:

  • I've used Acrobat in my example above as I don't have Sumatra installed.

Further Reading

  • An A-Z Index of the Windows CMD command line - An excellent reference for all things Windows cmd line related.
  • assoc - Display or change the association between a file extension and a fileType
  • ftype - Display or change the link between a FileType and an executable program.
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  • @Coolwater Great!
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Mar 22, 2017 at 17:31
  • 4
    You can do the same thing by editing the registry directly, but instead of using ftype, you'll be chasing references starting at HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf.
    – Mark
    Mar 22, 2017 at 21:28
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    @Mark I know. I went for the simpler, less dangerous approach :)
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Mar 22, 2017 at 21:29
  • Oh, nice. And it should work form WinXP forward.
    – Ajasja
    Mar 23, 2017 at 12:10
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    I think it might be worth mentioning that application updates and upgrades might overwrite these changes so it might be something that has to be done repeatedly. I would expect this from Adobe at least.
    – Matt
    Mar 23, 2017 at 14:14

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