topic Double clicking on a dwg in windows explorer opens a new instance of AutoCAD but it just used to open as a new tab in AutoCAD Forum

Double clicking on a dwg in windows explorer opens a new instance of AutoCAD but it just used to open as a new tab

ZoomZoomClickClick — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 12:12:48 GMT

Hi there Autodesk brains,

I have a colleague in my team who is opening up windows explorer and finding the .dwg files she needs to work on - and when she double clicks on the AutoCAD icon in the folder search a new instance of AutoCAD opens - she is currently working on a number of files [six I believe] and now navigating between open files is significantly more confusing as they are no longer in tabs [as they were before.

Double clicking on a new file used to open up a new tab in the one instance of Autocad that had already been launched, and we would like to revert to that behaviour if at all possible.

This seems to be a new behaviour on her PC, running windows 11 [up to date] and deploying an installation of AutoCAD 2022 [all hot fixes applied]. Double clicking in the widows explorer files used to open the drawings up as tabs in a single instance of AutoCAD being launched, and now its just opening up additional instances of AutoCAD - its getting a bit confusing to jump between files.

We have tried SDI set to <0>, changed it to 1 and back to 0 and it changed nothing in terms of behaviours we had noted about launching a new instance of AutoCAD. We have tried changing the file association from AutoCAD.exe to AClauncher.exe with no joy and so changed it back, and still the problem persists.

Have updated hotfixes to Autocad today and applied Windows 11 updates also, have rebooted machine - all the usual things... no joy. Not had a noodle with registry yet [avoiding that at all costs].

Anyone have any thoughts on this please?

Re: Double clicking on a dwg in windows explorer opens a new instance of AutoCAD but it just used to open as a new tab

paullimapa — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 12:25:25 GMT

Try the Windows registry edit solutions as shown on this link.

Re: Double clicking on a dwg in windows explorer opens a new instance of AutoCAD but it just used to open as a new tab

ZoomZoomClickClick — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:06:36 GMT

avoiding noodling with the registry at all costs...

Re: Double clicking on a dwg in windows explorer opens a new instance of AutoCAD but it just used to open as a new tab

ZoomZoomClickClick — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:08:37 GMT

thanks for sharing registry edits in this workaround - hoping to find something that doesn't involve editing the registry as our IT support is understandably wary of these proposals.

Re: Double clicking on a dwg in windows explorer opens a new instance of AutoCAD but it just used to open as a new tab

paullimapa — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:14:42 GMT

How’s about logging into Windows as another user with local admin rights?

Also here’s a method that worked on Windows 10 and 2017

Here is another thing to try- Go to your folder with the .dwg file. - Right Click the File - Hold the your pointer on "Open With" - When that pop-up opens select "Choose another APP" - When that window opens apply a check to the box "Always use this APP to open .dwg files" and then select the app, hopefully it is already listed in the window.

Re: Double clicking on a dwg in windows explorer opens a new instance of AutoCAD but it just used...

CGBenner — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 13:38:08 GMT

@ZoomZoomClickClick Did the information provided answer your question? If so, please use Accept Solution so that others may find this in the future. Thank you very much!

Re: Double clicking on a dwg in windows explorer opens a new instance of AutoCAD but it just used to open as a new tab

ZoomZoomClickClick — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 09:30:40 GMT

Well we tried all of the above - aside from editing the registry [as access is to registry is controlled by IT dept]

The solution in the end involved simply resetting AutoCAD and boom! drawings open in TABS again!!

programs>AutoCAD 2022>Reset Settings to Default ... and follow the prompts.

Thank you for all of your suggestions and ideas - got there in the end.

Re: Double clicking on a dwg in windows explorer opens a new instance of AutoCAD but it just used to open as a new tab

ZoomZoomClickClick — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 09:31:51 GMT

unfortunately this did not sole the problem this instance 😞

Re: Double clicking on a dwg in windows explorer opens a new instance of AutoCAD but it just used to open as a new tab

paullimapa — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 12:10:38 GMT

It’s good that you found the reset solution. It would have been interesting to see if this could have been resolved by editing the registry. Hopefully your colleague is able to resetup AutoCAD back to the way it was being used before. I guess we’ll never know what initially caused the problem.