Association
A term used to describe software programs installed on the computer that opens files on the computer. For example, in the Microsoft Windows operating system, a file with a .TXT extension is associated with Notepad or WordPad by default. When opening a file, the default associated program starts and opens that file so it can be viewed or modified. If no program is associated with the file, you will be asked what program to use to open that file.
- Additional information about file associations and extensions can be found on our file extension page.
Also see: Operating System definitions
