Assigning an app to an unknown extension (Shift+rightclick "OpenWith" but on android)

[Eternally Frustrated]

How do I get my android device (Samsung Galaxy S8 fully updated software) to open unknown file extensions using specific apps?

For instance, in Windows, I could Shift+Right Click on a file to pull up the "Open With" option for a file type, even if the file type isn't previously associated with a default app.

If I had a .TD6 file (a Roller Coaster Tycoon Track file), I could Shift+Right Click the .TD6 file, select Open With, and choose the Roller Coaster Tycoon program to open the file.

The same file type, if I try to open it using my android device, only gives me the option to "search for the appropriate app for this file in Google Play Store". How do I instead get my android to let me choose the native program for an unknown unrecognised file extension (.td6) from the apps already installed on my phone (like I have been able to do in Windows on a PC since 1995)? Or is Google Android simply 22 years behind its competitor in that regard?

Please help!

Eternally frustrated

 

[Eternally Frustrated]

Please explain to me as though I'm five. I know nothing beyond the what the gui provides me

 

[Hadron]

It's not a matter of "behind" so much as "different".

An Android app will specify the types of file it can read (the jargon is "intents" if you want to research it). If you click on a file in a file browser and no default action has been set for that file type the system will give you a list of every installed app that has declared itself capable of handling that file and ask you to choose (this once or make it the default). If you have no app installed that has declared itself able to handle that intent then it will ask you whether you want to find and install one.

So as long as you have an app that can handle that file (do you?) and it was written by someone competent and they intend you to be able to open files that way, there should be no problem. If you have something you think should be able to read the file but hasn't declared that intent try looking in that app's settings to see if it let's you read a file in from the app (a "read file" option within the app). If it has and it works, you could contact the developer and suggest they add the intent for that file type to their app (it may be that they made a different assumption about how you would use the app: assumed everyone would launch the app and read the file from there rather than click on the file in a file browser and expect the app to start up and read that file - you'd have to discuss their reasons with them).

 

[Eternally Frustrated]

That's what I figured. The app was coded by Atari, so I wouldn't count on quality.

 

[Dannydet]

Let's get something straight here.
A PC or a Mac has tons of processing power that a phone cannot compete with.
So we are all limited to what can be done, it's not 22 years behind...

 

[Bg260]

If you use Solid Explorer... long click the file, then tap the three dot menu, select "open with". A pop-up will appear. Tap the expand arrow in the upper-right hand corner. Select "any". Choose the app.