This portable WinBoard configuration can be installed by unzipping it in the folder of your choice. It will not attempt to create any files outside that folder, and not mess with the Windows registry or system menus. Due to these restrictions, the portable version will lack some of the conveniences that come with the normal install, however. In particular, there will be no icons and associations defined for PGN game files and other file types used by WinBoard. This means double-clicking such a file will not automatically invoke WinBoard.
It is possible, however, to open documents by dragging them onto the winboard.exe icon. This works not only for PGN files, but also for FEN, EPD, TRN, INI and XOP files. WinBoard will automatically take the appropriate action to process the file. XOP ('XBoard Options') is a new extension used for files containing WinBoard command-line options, which historically used the INI extension. The latter, however, is in very common use, so it would not be convenient to associate it with WinBoard. Hence the XOP synonym is now supplied and recognized by WinBoard. Dragging an XOP or INI file onto winboard.exe will start WinBoard like the options included in the file were typed on the command line. This makes it very easy to start WinBoard for a precisely specified task, such as logging on to FICS, or running a bot playing a certain engine on ICC. You just collect the options needed to specify the task in an XOP file inside the WinBoard folder, and all you have to do then is drag that file onto winboard.exe to start WinBoard in the desired mode.
The next-best alternative is to right-click on files, and select the "Open With..." menu item to open the file with WinBoard. Probably WinBoard will initially not be offered as a choice, so you would have to go through "Choose program", on which the system will compile a more complete list for you. WinBoard can still be missing, so you would have to use the "Browse" button below this list to browse to the winboard.exe of this portable install. That should add WinBoard to the list of applications (also when you get this list presented in the future). By ticking "Always open this type of file with this application" below the list, you would have made a permanent association, and double-clicking this file type in the future would automatically invoke WinBoard as default choice. But even if you leave this checkbox unticked, WinBoard would still be invoked this time to open it, and WinBoard should appear amongst the primary choices when you select "Open with..." on this file type in the future. The advantage of this method is that Windows will also display the files thus opened as 'WinBoard documents', assigning them an icon that is a small version of WinBoard's black Knight icon on a sheet of paper.
The WinBoard folder of this install contains 3 icon files that you could associate with the file types, if you are not satisfied with the system's default icon for 'WinBoard documents'. This can be done in the Control Panel, "Appearance and Themes", "Folder Options", by selecting the file type (PGN etc.), Clicking "Advanced", and using "Browse" to select the desired icon.
File types that WinBoard can open are the following:
| .PGN | Game file, containing Chess games. Opens WinBoard in game-viewer mode with the file loaded, and option settings taken from the viewer.xop file in the WinBoard folder. |
| .FEN, .EPD | Position file, containing Chess positions in FEN or EPD format. Opens WinBoard in game-viewer mode with the file loaded, and option settings taken from the viewer.xop file in the WinBoard folder. |
| .TRN | Tournament file, containing a tournament description, created through the Tournaent Options dialog on an earlier session. Sets WinBoard playing games for that tournament. |
| .XOP | Settings file, containing a list of option settings ('ini files'). Runs WinBoard as if those options had been given on the command line, so that it effectively acts as a shortcut to start WinBoard in a specific mode. |
The usual WinBoard help files (reference manual) are included in two formats, and the WinBoard Help menu item will show you the one in the format your system supports. The html help (.chm file) is unfortunately not entirely up to date.
An introduction to WinBoard in tutorial style is included here.