.docx not appearing in default apps

Question

.docx not appearing in default apps

JRG 20

I bought Word Home today and installed it. I'm trying to set Word as default for all documents, but in Default Apps, .docx is not an option. When I create a document in Word and save it as a Word document, it saves as DOCX, but then when I open it later, it opens in Notepad. I right click on the file name, click Open With, and Word is an option but only as Just Once.

I tried repairing the program, and then reinstalling the program, but nothing is working.

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Answer accepted by question author

Ron Barker 2,245

Hi JRG, Not sure what you have done with Ramesh's suggestion, there should be a change button. In any event, Click on Start>Settings>Apps>Left hand side>Default Apps>Bottom of list>Reset Default all Apps (somehow yours has been set to 'Note Pad)

JRG 20 Reputation points

2026-07-06T12:17:39.7233333+00:00

Thank you so much. This was successful.
Ramesh Srinivasan 87,875 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-06T12:18:28.5766667+00:00

Glad resetting the Default Apps helped. Thanks for the update.

1 additional answer

Your answer

JRG 20 Reputation points

2026-07-06T12:17:39.7233333+00:00

Thank you so much. This was successful.
Ramesh Srinivasan 87,875 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-06T12:18:28.5766667+00:00

Glad resetting the Default Apps helped. Thanks for the update.

Answer 1

Ramesh Srinivasan 87,875 Independent Advisor

Hi,

Please right-click on a .docx file and click Properties.

Let me know if there is a "Change" button in that dialog.

JRG 20 Reputation points

2026-07-05T20:45:37.49+00:00

Thank you Ramesh. There was no Change button in the Properties.
Ramesh Srinivasan 87,875 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-06T01:58:44.91+00:00

Please download docx_asso_fix.txt and save it to the desktop.

Open Regedit.exe.

From the File menu, choose Import...

Select "All files" in the drop-down box in the Import dialog

Browse to select the file docx_asso_fix.txt and import it.

If you get any errors, mention them in your reply.

That shoud fix the .docx file association settings.