topic Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened in Discussions

New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

althompsonphd — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 17:55:31 GMT

Hi everyone,

I've searched around and found some solutions to the problem that I am having, but none of them have seem to worked for me, so I thought I would just ask again to see if anyone might have some additional insight.

I help train colleagues at our company in using JMP and one problem that we regularly encounter is that if someone opens a file from Windows Explorer while they already had another JMP file open, the new file opens in an entirely different instance of JMP, thus cluttering up the taskbar and making it impossible to carry out tasks between the two files (like merging the two tables, etc). Obviously, once we realize that is the problem, we save the file, shut down the second instance of JMP, and reopen the file in the original instance, but this is a problem that frustrates many of us, so I thought instead of being frustrated, I would ask to see if anyone had a solution.

I have tried the solutions discussed in https://community.jmp.com/t5/JMP-Knowledge-Base/Problem-Note-52261-New-instance-of-JMP-is-opened-each-time-a-new/ta-p/639556 but although it perfectly describes the problem, the solutions don't seem to help the situation. I have also tried what I have permission to do [based on my operating system permissions], but likewise, I have not been able to solve the problem.

Thanks in advance for any insight!

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

cwillden — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 20:06:24 GMT

I have had the same issue for years and the solutions in the linked note have never solved the issue for me. I believe what initially triggered this was having more than 1 version of JMP installed and then uninstalling the one that was the default for the jmp file types. I have mostly just learned to work around that issue, but I would love it if someone could provide a more effective solution than what is in that note.

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

Mark_Bailey — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 21:37:27 GMT

I think @cwillden is right. Try this:

Start the version of JMP you want to use.
Select File > Preferences.
Select the Windows group of preferences.
Click Reset Associations.

That action should help even if you deleted older default versions. If this action does not work, then contact JMP Technical Support (support@jmp.com).

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

althompsonphd — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 15:04:40 GMT

Thanks for the responses. @Mark_Bailey , I have tried this already and it did not solve my problem. So, I will contact technical support. Thanks again!

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

gallardet — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 16:37:29 GMT

Hi.

I wonder if you found any satisfactory results to this problem?

Best regards,

Manel

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

txnelson — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 19:10:05 GMT

I thinking that you should contact JMP Support at

support@jmp.com

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

tim_reeves — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 18:38:17 GMT

The thing I seem to have found that finally solved this problem for me, which bothered me for a long time, was to uncheck the 'Reopen the initial JMP window on last window close' box in the Preferences/General.

It doesn't seem like that should do it, but I believe it has fixed it.

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

pauldeen — Sun, 09 Oct 2022 01:22:47 GMT

Possibly you are in a managed IT environment with limited access rights on your laptop? If so, make sure to do the "reset associations" trick from an elevated privilege (administrator) account. That solved it for me.

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

wencun6 — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 14:33:52 GMT

This helped me as well

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

PatrickGiuliano — Wed, 10 May 2023 22:09:56 GMT

Hi Everyone,

Here is one more thing you can try which has helped me in the past (after first attempting to reset file associations and it not remedying the problem for me).

1. Using Windows File Explorer, Change the default program to open a .jmp file from JMP17 to Notepad.

2. Then open a few .jmp files in Notepad (by double-clicking the files in windows explorer).

3. After that, Change the file association back to JMP17.

Hope this helps!

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

EMJohnson-Kueny — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 19:46:38 GMT

Thank you Patrick, strange as it seems, this is the solution that worked for me!

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

shampton82 — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 17:05:24 GMT

Note on this solution: It didn't work at first but when I repaired the installation of JMP and then tried the notepad trick it work!

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

Dave_Matthews — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 13:33:20 GMT

@althompsonphd The note reference in your original post is for Windows only. We generally do not see this behavior from Mac OS. Since Mac OS is driven by configuration files and not a Registry database like Windows, I would recommend deleting the related JMP configuration files. JMP will rebuild them on the next launch. However, you will need to supply the JMP license file or serial number again.

The steps below come from this JMP Note 678317

Remove JMP User Customization Data

1) From Finder, select Go > Go to Folder…

2) Type ~/Library and hit Enter

3) In the user’s Folder, open the Application Support folder

4) Select the JMP folder and drag it to Trash

(You might have to provide your password to complete the action)

5) Navigate back to ~/Library

6) Open the Preferences folder

7) Find all the “com.sas.jmp” files and drag them to Trash.

There will be at least com.sas.jmp.plist and maybe more than one.

If the step above do not resolve your issue, please contact support@jmp.com to open a Technical Support case to further investigate this issue.

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

BaggingDingo133 — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:44:47 GMT

it magically worked to me. thx!

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

hogi — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 15:57:46 GMT

Well, I had the same problem on my Windows computer!

This one did not help:

Then I tried:

... with success.

I had the issue with another user account - so I tried (1) - and it didn't work ?!?
So, I FIRST went to the preferences and applied

and THEN I tried (1)

... and it worked.

The proof of success: If the icons look like this

... and not like this:

check on your own and give feedback ...
By the way - no need to enable this option:

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

MassimoMartucci — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 08:48:57 GMT

Yes it works! I had to repeat step (1) not only for .jmp, but for .jrn and .jmplow files too. Now each file has its own icon and opens in the same current JMP 19 instance.

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

mikedriscoll — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 21:48:21 GMT

Thanks Hogi, this worked for me. I installed 19 but wanted to keep an older version default for now. I had previously clicked 'reset file associations...' in preferences but that didn't fix it. Then I did what you have in step 1 and it worked. So far i only did it for jmp and jsl files and that's fine for me for now.

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

hogi — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 09:01:01 GMT

As we have this issue very often:

1)

2) Follow @PatrickGiuliano 's steps:
https://community.jmp.com/t5/Discussions/New-instance-of-JMP-is-opened-each-time-a-new-file-is-opened/m-p/630792/highlight/true#M82900
... for every affected file type (!!)

@PatrickGiuliano , is this the only solution?

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

PatrickGiuliano — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 19:35:20 GMT

@hogi yes as far as I understand! thanks for resharing this approach -- I do find it very effective when "Reset Associations" doesn't do the trick.

Only other thing I would add is -- if it's not already obvious to users -- you can open a JMP session, use the Home Window as your "home base" (no need to rely on the Projects framework, just use the file hierarchy to understand where you are and what you have open), and drag and drop your JMP files from their applicable location into the home window itself. This will ensure that they open in the session that you want them to. Also use File > Open from within the JMP session (from the Home Window) and that will help you organize your work also. I do sometimes intentionally keep multiple sessions of JMP open (maybe two or three) to track several different work-flows. Also if I'm doing something more mission critical, that helps because if I'm clicking around haphazardly in one session, I'm "Ok" with that session potentially crashing, while I might be more deliberate in another session where I have a larger work-flow oriented around a particular project with a particular analysis direction in mind. I hope it goes without saying here that JMP should never crash -- we are always working hard to improve that.

Re: New instance of JMP® is opened each time a new file is opened

hogi — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 10:30:35 GMT

Additionally, a user can install the latest version of JMP again after uninstalling older versions - as a BATCH fix for all file types.