Now in Teams Public Preview: Default file open setting for office files

Feature description

The Teams desktop and web apps for Windows and Mac now enable users to configure the default app used to open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files that have been shared in Microsoft Teams.

Users can configure Teams to open the file directly in Teams (default), open in the web browser, or open in the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint desktop apps.

Prior to this feature rollout, clicking a PowerPoint, Word, or Excel file shared in Teams would open the file in Teams. Users could then select the option to open the file in the browser or Office desktop app.

Alternatively, users could select More options (...) > Open and then select the target app in which they want to view/edit the Office file.

Note: While it was not previously possible to change the default, this menu now offers an entry point for users to change the default app used to open Office files.

Screenshot showing the options for opening an Excel spreadsheet from the Teams desktop app

Screenshot showing the 'Change default' options to configure which app is used to open Office files

Flighting status

Available to all starting now.

How to enable your client for Preview

Step 1: IT admins – read instructions here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/public-preview-doc-updates

Step 2: Users – read instructions here

Feature release notes

Feature should be mentioned here before posting - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/current-channel-preview

How to enable the feature

The ability to change the default app used to open Office files is available to all users by default. There are no admin controls or policies to disable this feature.

Users can navigate to Teams Settings > General and scroll down to the Files section. The dropdown menu can be used to select the default app to open Office files:

Teams (default)
Desktop app
Browser

Screenshot of Teams general settings with the option for setting default Office file app highlighted

Note: The option to choose 'Desktop app' is only available when using the Teams desktop app for Windows or macOS and only applies to that device. The Teams web app only shows options for 'Teams' and 'Browser'.

O365 workload, Microsoft products dependency

Workload, product etc	Dependency (Yes/No)	If yes, please share version requirement and any other dependency requirements
Office build	Yes	To open a file in the Office desktop apps, users must install and activate version 16 or higher of PowerPoint/Word/Excel.