Forum Discussion
External users can't open documents in desktop application
Hi all,
This behavior is expected (external users not getting the "Open in Office" option) whenever the external user is authenticating via the new one time passcode (OTP) method. You can see a better overview here: Documentation
There are two states an external user can be in today: If they are authenticating via OTP, then they do not have a real AAD account and thus cannot open in clients. This occurs when you share a file or folder with an external user who is not in your directory (i.e. they have never been shared to before).
Inviting a user to a site or a group or using the Azure B2B platform will create an account in AAD for the guest user. These users must have an MSA or AAD account to sign-in with to accept the invitation. They can use Office apps.
This is definitely something we're looking to improve and I definitely suggest you check out the "What's new in External Sharing & Collaboration with OneDrive & SharePoint" talk at Ignite next week ;)
MicrosoftHi Oz Oscroft,
This is expected behavior unfortunately. If the recipient has a full Office 365 (enterprise) account AND the new B2B integration feature is enabled, they should be able to open files in the desktop apps. For all other users though, they will only be able to open in the web apps. This is something the team is aware of and keeping in mind for future improvement though. Thanks!
Stephen Rice
Senior Program Manager, OneDrive
I sure hope this is fixed REALLY soon because this is killing my company's site too as well as our productivity. I never dreamed that this would be asking too much to have the users be able to open up the Excel file on their desktops. In my case, the users are all within our 365 network and ALL are internal users with Design permissions too. Only a few however can open files on their desktop/laptop while many cannot and it only opens online which is what they don't want. It's driving me crazy!
- You May have a config issue. Get support from your O365 admin portal.
Fyi Opening online is the default action by design. ChrisWebbTechThanks Chris. I will start a new thread. Yes, you would think that it would work for ALL users but it doesn't. I have even set the Advanced settings to "default" to the client's applications.
- That has nothing to do with this discussion. Your situation is a supported scenario. If they open in the web they should be able to then select open in desktop app. If not it might be something with your office version or something with trusted sites possibly etc. I’d suggest starting a new thread and or a support ticket as well since internal users should all be able to open in office desktop apps but depending on the links may have to go to web then desktop.
