The OOTB Approval Workflow sends an email to the approver with a direct link to the Related Content / Document. When the Approver clicks on this I would expect it to open in the Online browser. In this case the following behavior happens, I have used an Excel file as an example:
- Chrome automatically downloads the file and forces the user to save it somewhere which then "unlinks" the document from the SharePoint library. The user has to make the changes and upload the file over the old file to get it updated in SharePoint.
- IE will download the file but with the yellow warning and "Edit Workbook" button. Once this is clicked the document is in edit mode and still linked to the SharePoint library.
- If you go to the document through IE rather than using the link from the external system and click on the document then Excel Online opens.
Is there a way to get the document to either open in Excel Online or at a minimum keep the link to the document to prevent the user from having to save it and upload it which messes up the approval workflow? The library setting for default behavior is to use the server default (open in browser).
The same behavior happens in Tasks when opening the document from the Related Content link, and also when in the task itself.
I have borrowed the text from this previous post as it seems to be an issue.
