PolicyPak File Associations Manager is especially excellent in this way, because instead of having one flat file which everyone must use and agree upon, you can distribute the directives across PolicyPak COLLECTIONS or GPOs.

Then, everything that doesn’t conflict, simply merges perfectly.

For example, if you have 2 GPOs (or Collections):

1. GPO1 / Collection1: “.txt -> Notepad.exe”, “.log -> Notepad.exe”
2. GPO2 / Colleciton2: “.txt -> Sublime.exe”, “.cfg -> Sublime.exe”

and assuming GPO 2 is processed last based upon natural GP prescedence, then you will get the following resulting association list:

• “.txt -> Sublime.exe”, (Because GPO2 “wins” in the conflict.)
• “.log-> Notepad.exe”, (Because there are no conflicts.)
• “.cfg -> Sublime.exe” (Because there are no conflicts.)