[SIMS] xml files open default / word Windows 11

[coolhands]

Does anyone know what is the advice regarding how should PCs be set up to open the Linked Documents (eg assessment reports) in SIMS - they are xml and usually open to view in Word. But on Windows 11 they are all opening in Edge or similar ie gobbledegook. 

 

Is there a recommended PC app default that should be chosen? (eg xml handler or similar). But is there an official line on what to do, or how have you set it?

[Devaleth]

No idea what the official line is but I used to setup XMLs to run from the Office XML Handler as a default program. SIMS has both word and excel file exports as xml so this way it would chose the correct program to launch them (there's a line at the top of the XML that says which it is). However, depending on what version of Windows 11 you are running I think that feature might now be removed unfortunately.

[coolhands]

Yeah I thought XML Handler was the correct thing to set as default app. That's what I've always done on Windows 10 machines. Just checking if there was any official response. Strangely on one colleagues PC there was no xml handler to choose when going Default Apps>Choose default applications by file type. ie it only presented Notepad, Edge, etc. However quick search just now and it seems choosing Excel (if presented as an option) might either work or force xml handler to become available, so I will test that.

 

AI says:

Quote

A missing Windows 11 XML Handler usually means Microsoft Office isn't properly linked to .xml files after an update, causing issues opening them in Excel; fix it by manually setting the default app for .xml to EXCEL.EXE via "Open With," or try repairing Office, running sfc /scannow for system file health, or re-registering mso.dll, as the handler relies on Office components. 

 

For my future reference, there is an edulink thread here which might have the solution : xml-file-association which was linked to from: xml-handler-for-linked-documents