How to set a flag as default on an *.EXE file?

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?

Solution 1:

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.