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If I double click a recent blend file icon, the version of Blender that it calls is an old one.

The file was created using 2.76, but if I double click it it runs inside 2.72b.

If I right click it and navigate to 2.76, it still opens with 2.72b... or at least that is what I think it did. Am I imagining things? (I have just tested and that is what happens)

If I double click the 2.76 .exe it opens 2.76, but if I go to the file icon, right click and then navigate to the 2.76.exe it opens in 2.72b

I have 2.72b in a completely different folder called ART. 2.73 and 2.76 are in the normal Blender Foundation folder right next to each other. So what is causing the system to jump to another folder to open 2.72b?

This isn't a problem, but seems bizarre.

EDIT: Windows 10. Yes, it is probably the O/S that is doing this, but it may mean that others have downloaded updated Blender, not overwritten the old install and are using the old version without noticing it. (It was a few weeks before I realised what was happening).

The thing to remember is to open Blender directly, check the splash screen and then File>Open.. the blender file. But finding the right version's icon is also hard because they don't include the version number in the icon. Perhaps it would be better if the icons change with each stable install the same way the splash screen changes.

I think I may decide to uninstall the old versions and see what happens.

ideasman42
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The Beachdancer
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    I'd say this is more your OS related question. It depends, of course, but it seems that OS doesn't have necessary associations in order to confront file extensions with files (and so it always thinks there is only one version of Blender in your system). – Mr Zak Nov 10 '15 at 21:29
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    Sounds like you are on windows - try running blender 2.76 from a command line and use the -R option. If you are on *nix system then your PATH variable could cause one to be found one before the other, which blender should show the order they are found. – sambler Nov 11 '15 at 07:04
  • This is os dependent but a canonical answer would be nice. – iKlsR Nov 12 '15 at 14:14
  • I encounter the same problem and unable to open with newer version in Windows. And I found out that my newer blender folder name blender-2.80-w64 is illegal for command line since - always indicate a parameter to pass-in. After I change folder name to other name, the problem resolved. – HikariTW Nov 16 '19 at 01:58
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    None of the solutions on this page worked for me, so thought I better add this. I did find a way through Setting>Apps>Default apps>Choose default application by file type however I then found the much quicker way was to just pop open regedit, go to Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\blender.exe\shell\open\command and just change the path there. – dt192 Aug 07 '22 at 01:01

4 Answers4

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For Windows:

On windows 7 right click on any .blend file and select open with and choose default program . Then use the browse button to navigate where the version you want of the blender program is on your hard drive, and select blender.exe as your default program to open this kind of file. To make the selection permanent check the box that says always choose the selected program to open this kind of file.

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On Windows 10 right click on the file and use choose other app:

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Then on the next screen navigate all the way to the bottom and click on look for other app on this PC

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On Linux it's basically the same procedure:

Right click on the blend file and select Open with other application

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then from there navigate to the folder the blender version you want to use:

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On OSX

Ctrl Click on the icon and select open with->Other and select the blender executable you want to use.

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Community
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  • As to what I tried to simulate the situation which is described by OP, it may not work always (or not for all users). It should, but windows is windows. For this case I think the solution of @sambler does the trick. – Mr Zak Nov 12 '15 at 16:35
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I had to try a few more things before my .blend file would open as the latest version.

Switching from 2.70 to 2.77a, just changing the Open With did not work for me. I don't know exactly which of these suggestions fixed it, but I would also try the following in this order:

  1. Change the Blender.exe to blender 277.exe

  2. Delete the old version information from C:\Users\\*<user\>*\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.70\config

  3. change Open As option to new version.

Duarte Farrajota Ramos
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Eric Nelson
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  • This works for me as well. I'm pretty sure any way that you can make Windows not be able to find the path to the old blender.exe will reset the "how do you want to open this" dialogue. So renaming, deleting, or moving the file should work. Then when you double click it will use whatever new version you choose. Seems like the behavior OP is describing is a bug in Windows where Windows stops searching the file system when it finds an executable whose name matches the executable it expects to find. Seems hard to believe that's true though... – jheindel May 06 '20 at 06:54
  • This is what I did, and worked well. Thank you @EricNelson – WillSmithsRobot Feb 15 '22 at 17:54
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macOS

For completeness, here's a more detailed answer for macOS users.

It helps if you have renamed the .app files in your Applications folder to include their corresponding Blender version numbers. This makes them easier to identify if you keep multiple versions installed.

  • Blender 3.3.app
  • Blender 3.4.1.app
  • Blender 3.5.app
  • ...

Then... R Click or Ctrl Click on a .blend file in Finder and

Get Info

Under the Open With... drop-down section of that menu, choose the Blender version you want to designate as the default and click

Change All...

A confirmation pop-up appears.

It's also worth mentioning that each version of Blender gets its own settings folder in the User Library, which can be viewed in Finder by typing ShiftCmdG

~/Library/Application Support/Blender

You will see folders for each major release* version:

  • 3.2
  • 3.3
  • 3.4
  • 3.5
  • ...

By "major release" I mean to one decimal place. In other words, a version as specific as 3.4.1 would not get its own folder. It would still use the 3.4 folder.

Note that installing a Blender version newer than all existing versions results in the newest version once again becoming the default.

Tip: If migrating to a new Mac, you can copy this folder to its place on the new machine and it will be used, preserving your startup file and preferences. Otherwise, upon launching that version of Blender for the first time, you will be asked if you want to import your settings from a previous version (assuming a folder for a previous version exists).

Tip: If you do Python programming and want to view console output while running Blender on your Mac, see this question.

Mentalist
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Windows 10, open blend files with another blender version. Go to blender directory, the version windows 10 actually opens your blend files, just rename the directory (add some letters) then, right click on any blend file , choose another app.. go to the blender version you wish , and it will work this time as you wanted .

May the Force be with you! ;) mars.

mars
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