Making textedit the default "doc" opening program

Question

I more often open doc files to read them than to do a major editing exercise, so I would like to make textedit the default program rather than Word. (When I want to work at the file I will open it from within word.) Is it posssible to do this? is there a place where associations are recorded?thanks LJ

Answer 1

It might be worth mentioning that there's a long tradition on unix systems of using editors to just read files. When I first got involved with unix and networking back in the late 1970's, it was the norm to read email, BBs and newsgroups with your favorite editor. I do a lot of work via ssh inside Terminal to various remote machines, and I routinely use my favorite editor (vi) to read email and other files. That way, you can use all the editor's commands to wander around in a file. Then, if you find something that needs to be changed, you're in an editor and it's easy.
I'd say that if you're thinking of it, do it. After a week or so, you'll know whether it's a good idea for your purposes. The previous reply told you how it works on OSX.