Force a change in a default application (Ubuntu gnome)

[fox]

An application I am trying out, Freemaker Office 2018, has the nasty side effect of locking itself in as the default application for all Microsoft Office mime types. The usual way of addressing this (at least in Ubuntu), is to right-click on a file with the mime type you want to change the default on, choose "properties", then choose the "Open with" tab. You can then select the application that you want to be the default for that mime type and click on the button "set as default". But with Freemaker Office installed, its applications are frozen as the defaults and you can't change it that way. I think there must be an extra strength way of doing this; perhaps as superuser and through the command line? Any ideas how I can do this?

[Jason]

Doesn't Gnome also have a Default Applications area in settings or elsewhere? Try doing a search for it those words.

[Jason]

Maybe this post helps?

http://forum.softmaker.com/viewtopic.php?f=271&t=16653&p=55688&hilit=default+application#p55688

[fox]

Unfortunately not. That poster was using the same procedure that I was to select the default application. He/she was able to change that default, whereas I cannot. The poster's issue had to do with what icons appear after changing his default to LibreOffice (which would also be annoying). But I can't change the default application at all, and I had the same problem with Softmaker Office 2016 (which Softmaker was making gratis to educators).

[Jason]

Oh, okay. Thought he/she used a different option than what you did (using properties). That's a pretty annoying bug, if it is a bug, and not something they intentionally designed.

[buster]

Doesn't Gnome also have a Default Applications area in settings or elsewhere? Try doing a search for it those words.

I gave up when I found I couldn't figure out much in Gnome, especially how to get a single click mouse to open things. Just noting, that for me, nothing in Gnome felt 'intuitive'.

[fox]

I've had a few communications about this with two helpful individuals on the Ubuntu forums (here), but no resolution. Installing Softmaker FreeOffice locks your application preference to its programs for any application it can open and the only way to solve this is to either install it on a portable device or uninstall it. No matter how good it is, that's a dealbreaker for me. However, I also have a thread on this in Softmaker's forums. Maybe they will have a solution. I haven't got a response yet, but it's the long weekend.