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Question

How to open a png?

Oct 15, 2018 9:20AM PDT

I received an attachment with an Email marked “image001.png". I have not the faintest idea how to open it and would welcome some advice. Many thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
First, Make Sure You Know Who Sent The File
Oct 15, 2018 4:28PM PDT

Don't simply open the .png file because it's there. MAKE SURE the file was supposed to be sent to you by the sender.

Next, download the attachment from the email to your desktop. If it happens to be malware, your antivirus should find it then. IF nothing goes awry, then Windows already has a program which will open .png picture files. RIGHT click on the file, choose "Open with", then select "Windows Photo Viewer". The picture should open.

If it does not, then the picture is probably corrupt. Or you can try a free photo program called Irfanview from the link below. (It's in the "Imaging Programs" section.) Download the Irfanview installer from the link, then install the program. After it's installed, perform the same steps as above but choose "Irfanview" from the available picture openers.

https://ninite.com/

Hope this helps.

Grif

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How to open a png.
Oct 16, 2018 12:00AM PDT

When I click onto one of the attachments and click, “open” a box appears titled, “Opening image004.png” There is then the option, to either “Open with Windows Media Player” which is the option I last tried and if I click on that the following options come up. “Microsoft Office 2010-Internet Explorer-VLC media player-Notepad-Windows Media Player-Windows Workpad Application.
I have no idea how to “choose "Open with", then select "Windows Photo Viewer".”

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Those Are The Wrong Options for Opening
Oct 16, 2018 9:13AM PDT

It would sure help if we knew which operating system you have installed, but it the meantime,try this: RIGHT click on the .png file, choose "Properties", then click on the "Change" button toward the top where it says: Open With". See if "Photos" or "Windows Photo Viewer" is there. If so, select one or the other. If not, as I said earlier, install Irfanview using the instructions I gave earlier and use the same procedure above to open the .png file.

There is another method to reset the default but it works similarly to the above and you may still need to install Irfanview anyway. With this method, in Windows 10, you open the Control Panel, select the "Default Progrmas" icon, then "Set You Default Programs", then scroll down to "Choose Default apps by file type". Once there, scroll to the ".png" listing, click on the icon to the right of it and select "Photos" or "Windows Photo Viewer" or "Irfanview" if you've installed it.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Those Are The Wrong Options for Opening.
Oct 16, 2018 9:38AM PDT

Regret as I do that I will never get to know just how the attachments became png the matter is resolved. I asked the sender to re-send in clear which they did. It was a series of book titles covering a subject I am interested in, early Canadian history so all is well. Many thanks to everyone who offered help.

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(NT) That Explains It.. They Weren't True .png Files
Oct 16, 2018 11:56AM PDT