When you want to keep working with a file in your own tools, DataMind Oda hands it to an app on your computer: it can open the file in the app your computer uses, open it in an app you pick, open it as text, or reveal it in your file manager. Where the controls sit and how to use them is covered in Open files and folders in other apps; this page covers what happens under each action, on each system, and the messages a refused hand-off can give.
| Choice | What happens |
|---|---|
| Open | The file starts in the app your computer uses for its type. HTML and SVG files open in your browser when your computer has one set for them, and otherwise in the usual app. |
| More ways to open | Oda offers the apps your computer has registered for the file's type; picking one opens the file in it this time. |
| Open as text | The file goes to a text editing action instead of the app for its type. |
| Show file location | Your file manager reveals where the file is; the file is not opened. |
Oda builds the More ways to open list from your computer's own records for the file's type:
The list belongs to the file's type, so two files can offer different apps. On macOS, when an app is installed more than once under the same identity, its copies appear as one entry: the copy your system uses by default, or the highest version. Every installed copy still opens the file; only the list is simplified. Deliberately separate copies keep their own entries.
Oda checks the app against the file again just before it starts it. An app that no longer handles the file is refused, with Application is not registered for this file, instead of opening the wrong thing, and nothing is started. Oda never changes your computer's default apps.
Open as text hands a file to a text editing action instead of the app for its type:
Show file location asks your file manager to reveal the file. What happens next depends on the system:
When a file sits inside Windows Subsystem for Linux and the desktop is Windows, Oda translates the file's path to its Windows form before anything is handed over:
wslpath returned no Windows path.Oda checks before it starts anything, so a hand-off it cannot make fails without opening or launching anything, and the message names the reason:
| Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Application is not registered for this file | The app no longer handles this file's type, so Oda refuses it rather than opening the wrong thing. | Pick another app from the list, or show the file's location. |
wslpath returned no Windows path | The file is inside Windows Subsystem for Linux and no Windows path could be worked out. Nothing was handed to Windows. | Open the file from the Windows side instead. |
native path opener is unsupported on <platform> | The computer offers Oda no way to open files through its desktop, so the app list comes back empty and nothing is launched. | Work with the file inside Oda, for example in the side panel. |
native file manager is unsupported on <platform> | No file manager could be reached to reveal the file. | Use Oda's own preview instead. |
These actions need a desktop that Oda can reach on the computer it runs on. When you reach Oda from another computer, they are not offered, and files can still be previewed inside Oda (Preview files in Oda).
The list shows the apps your computer has registered for that file's type, and different types have different apps. A file type with no registered app leaves the list empty; you can still reveal the file.
No. Open In... in the chat header hands the chat's whole folder to an app, while the list on a file offers apps for that file. Open files and folders in other apps covers both controls.
The list shows the apps your computer has registered for the file's type. Apps the system marks as hidden, and entries with no name, are left out, and an app that is not registered for the type cannot appear.
Oda takes each app's icon from your computer. When it cannot read one, the app is still offered, without an icon.
Oda checks the app against the file again just before it starts it, so an app that no longer handles the file is refused with Application is not registered for this file instead of opening something wrong. A check that fails starts nothing.
No. A pick applies to that one action and does not change your computer's default app. The Open In... control in the chat header is the one that remembers a choice, for the chat's folder.
Open as text hands the file to a text editing action instead of the app for its type. On macOS the file opens in your text editor; on Windows it opens through the app registered for the type, or the built-in text editor when none is registered.
No. It reveals where the file is and selects it there, and the file itself is not opened. On Linux, the folder that holds the file opens.
The file's path is translated to its Windows form before anything is handed to the Windows desktop, for opening, opening as text and revealing alike. When the path cannot be translated, nothing opens, and the failure names wslpath returned no Windows path.
Oda then offers no way to open or reveal files: the app list comes back empty, nothing is launched, and a refusal names native path opener is unsupported on <platform> or native file manager is unsupported on <platform>. Files can still be previewed inside Oda.