# External Applications

When you double-click on one of the rows on the main dialog, FreeFileSync opens the operating system's file browser by default. On Windows it calls explorer /select, "%item_path%", on Linux xdg-open "%item_folder%" and on OS X open -R "%item_path%".

You can customize this behavior and integrate other external applications into FreeFileSync: Navigate to Menu → Tools → Options: Customize context menu and add or replace a command. The first entry is executed when double-clicking a row on main grid or pressing ENTER while all other entries can be accessed via the context menu shown after a right mouse click. In addition to regular Macros, the following specific macros are available:

Macro | Description
--- | ---
%item_path% | Full file or folder name
%item_folder% | Folder part only
%item2_path% | Counterpart of %item_path% on the opposite grid
%item2_folder% | Counterpart of %item_folder% on the opposite grid

## Examples:

- Start visual content comparison tool:
  "C:\Program Files (x86)\WinMerge\WinMergeU.exe" "%item_path%" "%item2_path%"
- Show file in Windows Explorer:
  explorer /select, "%item_path%"
- Open file with associated application:
  "%item_path%"
- Open console for directory:
  cmd /k cd /D "%item_folder%"

Note
You need to protect macros with quotation marks if they can resolve to a file path containing space characters.