Hopefully someone can help me with this. Had to buy a new computer because a wombat piddled on our laptop and it never worked again. Yep. True. So have managed to get GPS Speedreader on the new computer (Lenovo - Windows 10) and it sent its stuff through to GPS Team Challenge. All good so far. Then when I click on "Export to Google Earth" to get the tracks on the map, it takes me to Adobe Photoshop Elements 2023 (which is installed on the computer too). I installed Google Earth thinking that was needed. No good. I uninstalled it and replaced it with Google Earth Pro but same result. Anyone who knows computer things able to help? It used to all work on the ACER laptop before the wombat killed it (it may have had windows 11 on it).

I guess, it's what is set as the default program to open KMZ files.

I'm hopeless with windows, but as a guess, navigate to where ever Speadreader saved the KML file, right click on it, then with any luck you'll get an "open with" query, select google earth and it should open. You may need to ask a windows forum how to set GE the default for KMZ files.

If I discover more I'll get back.

What Mike says. In more detail: when exporting the file from Speedreader, make sure to select "Ask where to save file":


Save the file on your desktop or some other place you like. Right-click on it, and select "Open with". In the dialog that pops up, choose Google Earth, and also select the "Always use this app to open .kmz files":


That should fix things. Next time you export to Google Earth, you can uncheck the box "Ask where to save file".

Thanks Decrepit and Boardsurfr. Unfortunately I have to face facts....a battered saveloy knows as much about computers as I do. Some of what you say I have seen on my screen when I have been spending hours trying to get this computer to do what the old one automatically did. You both mention KML but when I saved the tracks from GPS Speedreader to the desktop it showed up as ".gpy file" not KML. I did screenshots so that I could hopefully put them on the screen like you did. Buckleys! The other difference between what you showed photos of was in that last photo. There is nothing above the "Look for an app in the Microsoft Store". The bit below is the same. I click on "More Apps" and I get a few ( Adobe Photoshop,GPS Speedreader, Notepad and Word from memory). Again, it would be great if I could operate this clipboard. I have googled that and it says CTRL + V. Yeah, sure....not on this computer. I then click the "look for more apps" and get stuck down that track. So thanks again for trying fellas but I think it is all beyond this little black duck. Too dumb to understand computers.....let alone get them to work.

Yes the device exports .gpy files. But Google earth can't open them.

When you click on, "export to Google Earth". Speedreader makes a .KMZ file, that G.E. can open.
As Peter says, that's what you have to save somewhere convenient. Then "open with" G.E.

Another way to tackle it, is to open Google Earth, then File>Open. and navigate to your .KMZ file and click on it.
or just drag and drop the .KMZ file into G.E.

Thanks Mike and Peter. Between the two of you we got there but gee what a rigmarole. Life was so much easier when I could click on export to GE and it happened. I have spent a few more hours pig headedly trying to not be so useless and stumbled across a few things. I took photos of what was on the screen hoping that with the iPad I could put them into this reply. No! So I will try and explain.. I got into Settings>Apps>Default Apps. Then I scrolled to the bottom and found " Choose defaults by file type". Lucky that I screenshotted each of these because I had to go through the photos to find how I stumbled onto it. That gave me a list as long as the Nullarbor Hwy. The default for .kml was listed as Google Earth but the default for .kmz was Adobe Photoshop. This was looking promising as to why I was being taken to Photoshop when I pressed "export to GE" when in GPS Speedreader. My excitement was short lived. I could change it but Google Earth was not one of the
options. That makes no sense to me as GE is listed in Settings>Apps> Apps and Features ..and occupies 232 Mb. Have I provided any info that helps either of you to advise how to get this thing working the way it should. Your tip worked Mike (and you did well seeing you aren't a windows man) but I can't see myself remembering all that tricky stuff. Seeing a button that says "export to GE" and pressing it to get GE with my tracks is something I can easily follow. Anyway thanks again for your help. Anyone else can chip in with help if you can follow my description of what my Settings are telling me. Sorry..pics in my post are beyond me. I tried and failed then I googled it but that was as clear as mud too.

Well done on finding the default apps setting.
This is one of the reasons I don't like windows, you get to the right place, but it doesn't give you the right option!

More info would help.
What happens when you right click on the kmz file?
You should get an "open with" dialog.

OK I've booted up my virtual windows 7, There's no "open with" dialog, only "open." when clicking that, windows complains it doesn't know how to open it, so I select GE, and there's a check box at the bottom, to tick "always use the selected program.

But I guess this isn't happening for you because stupid windows thinks it's Photoshop.

If you can find the default program again, can you disassociate Photoshop, and leave it with nothing selected?

If so you should be able to tell it to open with GE

Glen, right click on the KMZ file. Select open with...,
Then select "More apps" and scroll to the bottom.
Select " look for another app on this pc"
Then browse to the location that Google Earth is installed on your PC, it is most likely something like
C:\Program Files\Google\Google Earth Pro\client\GoogleEarth.exe

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GR said..
The default for .kml was listed as Google Earth but the default for .kmz was Adobe Photoshop. This was looking promising as to why I was being taken to Photoshop when I pressed "export to GE" when in GPS Speedreader. My excitement was short lived. I could change it but Google Earth was not one of the options.

I checked on my Windows10 computer, and Google Earth is an option. If is it not shown on your computer, the most likely explanation is that Google Earth is not installed properly. Re-installing Google Earth should fix that.

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GR said..
I installed Google Earth thinking that was needed. No good. I uninstalled it and replaced it with Google Earth Pro but same result.

There is some confusion here. Google only offers Google Earth Pro as a desktop app. It's been a few years since they offered a non-pro version. I must say that the Google Earth web site is confusing. The download page has "Google Earth on web" as the first item. That's a plug-in for Google Chrome. Pressing on it on my Mac takes me to an empty page (great job, Google!).
Make sure you click on the "Google Earth Pro for Desktop" option, and that you run the installer after downloading it.

After installing or re-installing Google Earth Pro, open it, go to the "File" menu in Google Earth, select "Open", and choose the .kmz file you exported from GPS Speedreader. That's to verify that your installation works as it should. After you've done that, try making Google Earth the default app for opening .kmz files again, either by right-clicking on the .kmz file, or by using Settings.

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decrepit said..
Well done on finding the default apps setting.
This is one of the reasons I don't like windows, you get to the right place, but it doesn't give you the right option!

More info would help.
What happens when you right click on the kmz file?
You should get an "open with" dialog.

OK I've booted up my virtual windows 7, There's no "open with" dialog, only "open." when clicking that, windows complains it doesn't know how to open it, so I select GE, and there's a check box at the bottom, to tick "always use the selected program.

But I guess this isn't happening for you because stupid windows thinks it's Photoshop.

If you can find the default program again, can you disassociate Photoshop, and leave it with nothing selected?

If so you should be able to tell it to open with GE

Linux rocks

Hi Glenn, bring your laptop down to the club next weekend and we can have a look.

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Shifu said.. Linux rocks

Sure does!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks everyone. What has been suggested has been tried but the things that people are saying should be on the screen aren't there. In amongst the 8 hours spent playing silly buggers and lots of googling it turns out that what is happening to me has happened to others (not specifically to do with Google Earth..any apps can be missing). My mistake for earlier thinking I had Windows 10..I was sure I had seen 10 on something I had seen on the screen (I have seen a lot in 8 hours)but it is windows 11. Google tells me that this is probably due to a glitch in Windows 11. Things that are clearly on the computer are not listed in the default app list when you select "look for another app on this computer". So maybe, in time, these glitches will be fixed. Weird thing is that Leanne's laptop has windows 11 and this all works on it...no glitches there. This reminds me of the troubles with Leanne's laptop where speeds, distances and alphas weren't going across to GPSTC whether we used ka72 or gps Speedreader. That came good after about 6 months. We tried lots of suggestions but nothing worked..it just started working recently all by itself. I was one of only a few that was having that trouble and now this new trouble is on another new computer. It seems to be new computers that cause these troubles. So thanks again for the help fellas. I won't waste anymore of people's time ..we will just wait for the planets to align. Oh..Peter..Google Earth is listed as a default app when I stumbled onto searching default apps by file type but just the wrong file type. It is there for .kml files but is nowhere on the list of options for .kmz files so I figure it is loaded correctly. It is the pro version because I found, as you said, that GE pro is the only one that can go desktop. I tried both GE web and GE Pro and had the same lack of success. My son is coming around soon so I'll get him to check that I have done correctly what you have all suggested. He has 2 university degrees so it won't go over his head as far as mine. I tried standing on a chair but all this computer stuff still goes over my head?? Don't let the fact that I can type .kml and .kmz make you think I know what I am talking about with computer stuff. Just re read things above (again) and your last paragraph Peter gives me one more thing to try. Mike's suggestions (way up the top) to get the .kmz file by opening GE worked and the .kmz file is there every time I save it to desktop as the date followed by .kmz. I will try right clicking there just in case it gives me a different outcome than going through settings>Apps>Default Apps etc. I am working on the theory here that the definition of stupid is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Done lots of that so I'll try right clicking on that .kmz just for a different approach.
Sorry about the length of this epistle. Just call me Sue. ??Sorry Sue

think that with photoshop you can create your own tracks, impress your friends !

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powersloshin said..

I did that the other day. I call it a quadruple forward heli tack with a hint of sea rescue in forse 9 opposing tide.

Thanks goes to Boardsurfr (Peter) who kept helping me privately on this topic and got it sorted. He is a genius and a gentleman. All is working as it should now on the computer. I had been one click and a double click away from succeeding this whole time.
For those that are curious on how the problem was fixed...After going settings>apps>default apps then going to the bottom of the screen to click on "choose defaults by file type" then scrolling down to ".kmz" then clicking "+ choose a default"...From here on I can't double check with the computer because Google Earth is already there now, but from memory I had to go to "more apps" then "look for another app on this PC" then there was an "open with" dialog box and on that list was "Google". I had made it that far previously but was expecting to see Google Earth. I had previously clicked on Google (still expecting to find Google Earth in there) and saw another icon folder/file thingy saying "client" which scared me off as I figured that was not what I wanted to see. One more click on that client thingy would have taken me to a "google earth.exe" and a double click on that set the google earth as the default for .kmz files. Now I get the screen that Remery showed above. Prior to that I was getting Photoshop next to .kmz . Easy as that when you have a genius helping you. Thanks again to Boardsurfr. I am a happy little Vegemite now.

Totaly agree, I have the priviledge of calling Peter a mate. Without a lot of his work, my windsurfing wouldn't be quite where it is today.