PSP7 and Win7: Has multiple instances problem been solved?

[RoyRogers]

PSP7 installed on Win7 Pro, 32-bit.

This seems to be a common complaint but I haven't seen a solution yet.

When I double-click an image file name in Windows Explorer a new instance of PSP7 is opened for each image. What I need is to open multiple images in one instance of PSP when I double-click the image name.

Has anybody solved this problem?

[trueblue]

PSP7 is quite an old software considering we are now on 15.

Rather than double clicking the image to open in PSP7, why not use Open File in PSP7 then highlight all the images you need to import them into the programme.

[RoyRogers]

Yes, I understand that I can open multiple images using File>Open. But that wasn't my question. I know that PSP7 on WinXP could be configured to open multiple images in one PSP instance and it had something to do with DDE. But that 'fix' (according to others) doesn't work in Win7. And I couldn't find the WinXP fix anyway.

Still hoping someone has solved this problem.

[LeviFiction]

Later versions of PSP only allow 1 instance of the program so this doesn't come up that often.

***Warning: While small, this does invovle editing the registry. A task not suggested unless you're familiar with it. Even for something like this.

It is recommended that you also backup the effected keys before editing in case you need to restore them.


The DDE fix should work in WIndows 7 as well. Though maybe there is an extra step that XP didn't need.

From what I remember of the dde fix for XP

You open your Registry Editor and in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT you find the entry for PSP's image format. Go into it you'll find "Shell"/"Open"/"Command"

And in the value for this is the path to PSP. You add the /dde portion to the end of the filename that is in quotes. Correct?

In Windows seven you need to make sure to include, after /dde "%1" (quotes included)

So in my case I only have PSPX5 installed right now. So Obviously mine is a little different from what you will see.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/PaintShopProX5.Image/shell/Open/command

The value is: "c:\Program Files (x86)\Corel\Corel PaintShop Pro X5\Corel PaintShop Pro.exe" "%1"

I would change the value to

"c:\Program Files (x86)\Corel\Corel PaintShop Pro X5\Corel PaintShop Pro.exe" /dde "%1"

I've seen this work with other file formats and programs on Windows 7. But in articles I've read they stress the importance of the "%1" after the /dde.

[JStanley]

I agree with LeviFiction. PSP7 is a very legacy program that requires different settings that are not necessarily installed by default on modern OSs; especially concerning DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange), which is relatively legacy. (DDE has been around since Windows 2.0, AFAIK.)

The information I am providing here is on a Windows XP computer (for which I still have PSP7 installed), but I imagine the results would be similar for more modern computers. PSP7 requires the DDE information to open a single window or reuse existing running program windows for multiple files.

For the file type that you wish to open with PSP, you need to setup the Dynamic Data Exchange similar to below:

PSP7 DDE Settings

psp7_example.JPG (23.25 KiB) Viewed 7729 times

The equivalent registry entries would be (for filetype PSP7.Image, that I have set for the .PSP suffix, as an example, where the default for .psp is set to PSP7.Image; this is just an example):

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PSP7.Image\shell]
@="open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PSP7.Image\shell\open]
@="Open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PSP7.Image\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Jasc Software Inc\\Paint Shop Pro 7\\psp.exe\" \"/dde\" %1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PSP7.Image\shell\open\ddeexec]
@="[open(\"%1\")]"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PSP7.Image\shell\open\ddeexec\Application]
@="Psp"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PSP7.Image\shell\open\ddeexec\Topic]
@="System"

This would reuse the current open program window (PSP7) rather than opening another instance of the program. More current programs usually wouldn't require this setting. For example, I also run PSPX5 on this machine and do not require the DDE settings to reuse the currently running program.

I hope this helps.

[RoyRogers]

Thank tou LeviFiction & JStanley,

I very carefully made the changes to my Win7 Registry entries like you suggested but there was no difference in the way PSP7 opened files. Each double-click on an image file (i.e. .BMP file) opens a separate instance of PSP7. I returned my Registry entries back to their original settings.

I would really like to find a solution to this but maybe "you can't get ther from here".

[hartpaul]

When I double click on any image file apart from psp, it opens in Irfanview. If I want to open an image in another graphics program of which I have about 5 then I can right click and Open With. If I want to open a number of images in a single graphics program I drag and drop from an explorer window. Saves a lot of double clicking and RSI! Perhaps with the updating of all systems you will have to change your ways as we all have.