Default opening files with the client application
Please provide the option to default opening files with the client application (Word, Excel, etc.)

22 comments
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Anonymous commented
This should definitely be an option on the client side. I don't mind if other users want to view in the web app but since I have the native office apps installed I usually want the full funtionality. Using settings per library is not an option since most teams are created using the standard setting and asking evere teams owner to change the setting is really annoying.
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DLH commented
totally agree!
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Anonymous commented
Specially on the Mac this would be very useful. You can't open files in Safari - you can open in Chrome. If I could choose the default app, I would choose Chrome so the files open, instead of being sent to a safari page telling me the brewers is not compatible. (I have no intention of not using Safari as the default for the Mac OS as I love it's functionality, but I do have Chrome - so I would like to select teams to open files in Chrome).
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David commented
Or even at a minimum being able to set on a file-by-file basis. We have some spreadsheets using macros that wont work in online viewer. Other spreadsheets would be fine viewed online
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Jes Scherder commented
The poor functionality and readability of the online applications make our documents pretty much unreadable in both Teams and in SharePoint. Since users are most likely to simply one-click a document to open it rather than to look for the desktop application in other options, our only choice to make sure they are veiwable as intended is to save documents as PDFs. This eliminates one of the best features - which is the file sharing/editing capabilities. Please add the ability to have these documents open to the desktop applications by default, including when users click a provided link and follow it to the saved location.
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Chris Luscavich commented
This should be core setting especially when it involves other paid Microsoft applications!
Please add!
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Paul Brown commented
Would be a much needed feature
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Anonymous commented
Please add, some much more efficient for large files.
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Drew commented
Yes do this, you can already set the preference in sharepoint, shouldn't be hard to bring that across. Geez.
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Anonymous commented
Please add this! It's very annoying to not have this. I can understand why the default behavior might be to open in teams. But to not allow users to set different options is a massive oversight I think.
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Anonymous commented
I'm R&D manager within a Automotive supplier company and we just resently moved into Teams for better global Communication. I was very supprised when this feature wasn't in place already in Teams and now I start to hear alot of complaints from the organization. Add this feature shortly, otherwise my organization will have to move away from Teams unfortunatly.
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Eric Beaudry commented
Working in a single file at a time from the Teams client!!! who thought of that... even Windows 3.1 wasn't that crippled. At the very least, offer a settings to define the default behavior and let us choose if we want the full client or the crippled embedded version.
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Ares Chen commented
Agreed, This is a useful feature
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Anonymous commented
This is very important due to GDPR-requirements and the results of the netherland DIPA!!!
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Roxanne Tomlinson commented
Why can't the files tab in Teams just be File Explorer and open everything saved there to it's default program??!! Then photos could be easier and open right in the photos app and can cycle through photos rather than opening and closing each one separately!!! Please fix. Agree with below justifies not using Teams.
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Doralisa Eatherton commented
This is very important for adoption of Teams! Negative user experiences justifies not using Teams.
Current web apps don't have all the functionality of desktop apps - in several cases I have seen file issues occur (corrupt files) when users open in web version to edit file (for example copy/paste Excel table in Word doc - error unable to perform action). Agree with previous post: web apps: slow & get in the way and even break work flow. -
Tim Graham commented
PLEASE make this a reality! I have Excel files saved in MS Teams that need to have users Open in Excel if they're going to make edits (Excel Online will not work for these files because they make use of Power Query for refreshing the data). Some people are opening and editing in Excel, as instructed, but others open the same file in the Teams preview or in Excel Online, and they're creating alternative versions of a file or locking others out of being able to edit a file. So I need users to ONLY EVER OPEN IN EXCEL. Need a way to force this. Have lost countless hours trying to get people to realize they're still "in the file" (because, for example, it's open in one of 15 tabs they have open in their browser and they don't realize it), and need to get out. Many users are not savvy enough to understand the different viewing and editing options. And people have bad behaviors in terms of having too much stuff open (apps, tabs, etc.) than they can keep track of. Team admins should be able to set/limit the options for how members can view / edit files.
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Richard Stevens commented
This is important. The web apps in their current form are
- slow
- unsuitable but for the simplest of documents.
- very reduced in terms of functionalityThey get in the way of serious work and break workflow.
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Andy Slack commented
I think this could include not just the Edit button, but a default action when clicking a document in the Files tab. Right now, I'm defaulting to right-click, Edit in ... every time I open a document.
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Filip Kohout commented
Let me choose default app for opening (docx, xlsx, etc) for editing. (Word Online, Word, etc).
Also allow administrator of MS Teams set policy with this setting.