thanks guys. Now, I'm not in front of Reaper but I can almost swear that: "Item: Open items in primary external editor." whose shortcut is: "Ctrl-Alt-E" opens the selected item in the primary external editor. What I want to do is to "force" opening a midi item in Reaper's built in midi editor always. I'm guessing that the primary external editor can be the "built in midi editor" ? but that only happens if Reaper feels that it can open an item in its built in midi editor. Okay, I'm starting to remember another slight annoyance which is that if I specify two external editors for midi files that built in midi editor does not show up as an option at least under certain circumstances. I'll try all of this out it when I get home. thanks again