MS Paint - any way to open multiple images at once?

[mitchellwma1]

Is there any workaround that anyone knows of to highlight a group of images and have MS Paint open them? MS Paint natively only handles opening files one by one even if many are highlighted and the "open" option selected in the context menu.

Thx.

 

[Paul]

Is there any workaround that anyone knows of to highlight
a group of images and have MS Paint open them? MS Paint
natively only handles opening files one by one even if many
are highlighted and the "open" option selected in the context menu.

Thx.

If I go to a Command Prompt window and type

mspaint

I can start another instance of the program. That
to me is an encouraging sign.

I can also go to Start : Run and type mspaint
in there as well.

That implies, you could make a .bat file, and
put something like this in it...

mspaint C:\Downloads\sample1.bmp
mspaint C:\Downloads\sample2.bmp
mspaint C:\Downloads\sample3.bmp

then three windows would open.

What I cannot figure out for you, is how
you'd integrate this knowledge, into a
multi-selection. Maybe it would take scripting
or something (to convert multiple arguments,
into individual program invocations).

Do you actually want to use mspaint ? Maybe
there is a third-party program that has a more
complete feature set, and can actually keep
multiple windows open on its own.

Paul

 

[Bob Willard]

Is there any workaround that anyone knows of to highlight a group of images and have MS Paint open them? MS Paint natively only handles opening files one by one even if many are highlighted and the "open" option selected in the context menu.

Thx.

Hey, what do you expect? M$Paint was included with Win1.0; by Win3.1 it
even supported *color*

There are much better apps for painting and for editing pictures.
I mostly use PaintShopPro, although not the current version, and I use
PhotoShop. For drawing simple pictures (like block diagrams), I use
Visio, Word, and Excel. M$Paint is pretty quaint.

 

[JJ]

Is there any workaround that anyone knows of to highlight a group of
images and have MS Paint open them? MS Paint natively only handles
opening files one by one even if many are highlighted and the "open"
option selected in the context menu.

I have to agree with everyone here, MS Paint is a very basic image editor
that most experienced users find it very lacking. But some might find it
useful enough.

Paul there, already gave you a simple solution. To make it work, a simple
batch file below can be used with either ".BAT" or ".CMD" extension. Just
save it as "paint.cmd", put it somewhere, then create a shortcut for it in
the "SendTo" folder. Change the shortcut property to run minimized so that
the command prompt window won't be distracting. To use it, select the
images, right-click the selection, choose "Send To", then choose the Paint
shortcut. Be careful not to open too many images, though.

---start of "paint.cmd". don't include this line---
@echo off
:chk
if "%~1" == "" goto :eof
start /b mspaint %1
shift
goto chk

 

[mitchellwma1]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. First off, boy, do I ever know that there are better apps out there than MS Paint. I have several, indeed, at home.. However, at work there are 2 issues: 1. We're not allowed to bring in 3rd party apps. 2. Even if we could, the registry is locked down so we couldn't install it either. (and 3. Even if I snuck in a 3rd party portable application to get around 1. and 2. above, if I got caught ... nah, not worth it).

MS Paint does very well for the work screenshot tutorials I seem to write quite frequently at work. However, the opening of multiple files at once todo that work is TEDIOUS! Ugh. Anyway, the last bat file sounds like a great solution if it works. I put a shortcut in SendTo as one of the workarounds I tried to do but MS Paint just won't open more than 1 file at once. So having something to intercept 15-20 images at once and then get Paint toopen them would be grand. I'll give it a try.

Thx!

 

[mitchellwma1]

JJ, that's BRILLIANT!!!

It worked! Wow.

I modified things a little bit, not much, but here's what I did. I actually put the BAT right into the SendTo folder, then I hid it. I made a shortcut to it and called it "MS Paint ..." and then pointed the icon path to MS Paint's executable and then selected the regular MS Paint icon from the various icons available in the exec. I searched for a few JPGs and dumped them into the "MS Paint ..." shortcut in SendTo and in milliseconds had them all opened.

One question, though, to fine-tune ... can the BAT tell Paint to open the windows MAXIMIZED, though? That would be the ultimate although this is great just the way it is.

Thank you, thank you!!! D

 

[dadiOH]

One question, though, to fine-tune ... can the BAT tell Paint to open
the windows MAXIMIZED, though?

It should open the same size it was when you last closed it.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out... http://www.floridaloghouse.net

 

[Robert Macy]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.  First off, boy, do I ever know that there are better apps out there than MS Paint.  I have several, indeed, at home.  However, at work there are 2 issues:  1. We're not allowed to bring in 3rd party apps.  2. Even if we could, the registry is locked down so we couldn't install it either. (and 3. Even if I snuck in a 3rd party portable application to get around 1. and 2. above, if I got caught ... nah, not worth it).

MS Paint does very well for the work screenshot tutorials I seem to writequite frequently at work.  However, the opening of multiple files at once to do that work is TEDIOUS!  Ugh.  Anyway, the last bat file sounds like a great solution if it works.  I put a shortcut in SendTo as one of the workarounds I tried to do but MS Paint just won't open more than 1 file at once.  So having something to intercept 15-20 images at once and then get Paint to open them would be grand.  I'll give it a try.

Thx!

Just as a test, on this Win98 PC I highlighted a series of .bmp
images, hit enter, and they all opened in individual MSpaint windows.
Doing EXACTLY what it sounded like you wanted. Didn't try on the
WinXP, hate to use it. For me, when MS moved to the 'new and improved'
MSPaint in WinXP; again, and as usual, they screwed it up. So, I had
to go back and pull the mspaint.exe from the Win98 installation and
put it in somewhere on my WinXP PC, then add the appropriate
shortcuts, like desktop. Same with Notepad, had to install Win98
version on the WinXP.

Perhaps the multiple opening is a function of MSpaint version and NOT
WinXP OS; so put a copy of your MSpaint Win98 version on your work PC
and give it a try.

Anyway, I didn't have to 'install' mspaint onto the WinXP just put it
somewhere, so you can take it to work and put it in your storage
files. Not third party and is MS so everyone should be happy.

 

[JJ]

One question, though, to fine-tune ... can the BAT tell Paint to open the
windows MAXIMIZED, though? That would be the ultimate although this is
great just the way it is.

Just insert the "/max" option for the "START" command. i.e.:

start /b /max mspaint %1