Forum Discussion
Links to Sharepoint Document in Excel Opens in Browser
I just shared an excel document stored on SharePoint link in Teams chat and it downloads the file. I added the "?Web=1" after having to go into edit mode and create a link and that works to open in the browser. WHY DOES THE LINK DOWNLOAD AND NOT OPEN IN THE NATIVE APP? This is really getting frustrating. I tried the "ms-excel:ofe|u|" prefix and the link creator said it was not a valid link and would not let me even try it. Any help appreciated. I agree with another poster that having to add extensions and prefixes cannot be sustainable, either. Behavior of the link should not be based on settings in individual systems either for collaboration.
ShelliG_N We have felt your pain. You may not have the privileges to change your library settings, but I would first try to follow the advice of Anonymous (04-16-2018 02:09 PM) to change the libraries' Advanced Settings/Opening Documents in the Browser to "Open in the client application." If you want this behavior to apply to the site in general, and have the administrative privileges to update the site settings, then turn the Open docs in client app by default option as well (Site Settings > Site Collection Administration > Site Collection Features > Open Documents in Client Applications by Default.).
Lately, I have had success using the Edge browser with these settings. Firefox has an internal setting controlling which apps open which documents, that would sometimes get reset (maybe on an update?), which added to the confusion of users that expected the app to open but the file would just get downloaded instead of downloaded and opened. We don't support Chrome (historical reasons) so I haven't tried it lately.
If none of this works, we have at times, added specific links to menus or to HTML sections on pages. I think following the advice of domemsgroup for how to refer to the files is the best approach--use a link that directly refers to the file, library URL + file name, and not the link that SharePoint gives you. This approach has allowed us to evade changes in behavior due to SharePoint updates or browser variation. Not very satisfying, but a few key documents resulted in more than their fair share of help desk calls.
Good luck!
AthenianRazak I do not agree that the comments are hijacking the feed but will start a new topic. This is directly related to links to SharePoint documents and how they open.
ShelliG_N Thanks for the additional information. Teams appears to be opening Office files, like Excel, in a browser-like view which for Excel gives the confusing options to open in the desktop app or just to edit or view in Teams. This is confusing for most people. If you want to avoid this, then try this approach, which is related to the current thread of opening Excel files from SharePoint.
From Teams, select the option to "Open in SharePoint." This should open a view of the SharePoint document library in the default browser--I've tested this in Edge for Excel and PowerPoint files. The first time you access this document library, see if you have the privileges to update the Document "Library Settings" (from the setting "gear" in the upper left, near your Office 365 account picture/initials), advanced settings, to select the option "Open in the client application" for "Opening Documents in the Browser." If you were able to do that, then the next step hopefully works for you.
Now click on the file you want to open in the desktop application from the SharePoint Document Library (not from Teams), and it should open in the desktop application. This works for me using Office 365 E3 / Excel (and PowerPoint) / SharePoint Online (modern experience) / Edge (v.83.0.478.37) on a Windows 10 Pro (v.1909) machine. But as you can tell from this thread, your mileage may vary--even if you have exactly the same setup, SharePoint can frustrate. And I'm not sure that it less confusing to users to have to go to the SharePoint side of Teams before opening a file, but at least they won't have both the Teams and the Desktop app showing them the same file (really confusing).
Folks, you've derailed this thread onto a topic not really related to the original. This isn't about Teams links, and it's not about whether a link causes a file to download or not. Understood this may be a problem for you, but you should start a new topic rather than usurping this one. The original issue was that links created in Sharepoint open Office application files (e.g, XLSX) in the browser rather than in the native app regardless of the settings. This still isn't fixed, though Microsoft is perpetually monkeying around with things and has at least made it easier to edit created links (just delete everything starting with the "?" after the file extension in the URL). That said, the Advanced Settings for how documents open by default still have no effect on Sharepoint's behavior, so it's pointless to fuss with them.
ShelliG_N Thanks for the additional information about your system configuration. We haven't been using Teams to access files like that. I just uploaded a PowerPoint document to try it out. Teams seems to have a version of PowerPoint built in, so the document opened inside of Teams. Not exactly the desktop application but maybe good enough. To get the PowerPoint file to open in the desktop application I had to click on the "Open in SharePoint" menu option on the the top menu. I then updated the Document Library settings (hopefully you have privileges to do this) via the setting menu (gear in upper left corner). Select "Advanced Settings" and then select "Open in the client application" for the "Opening Documents in the Browser" setting. Then, if you click on "Open in SharePoint" from the Teams menu and click on the file in the SharePoint folder that opens in your browser, the document will, hopefully, open in the desktop application. This worked for me when I used Edge as my default browser. Once you have updated the library setting, it should apply for all users and you shouldn't have to change it again. But with all things SharePoint humility applies, so no guarantees.
Still probably not what you wanted to hear. But I hope it helps.
80Mark80 Thanks!
I think this is more than just a browser issue, however as the latest issue was in the Teams app with a link to an Excel spreadsheet on SharePoint.
I rarely use the link that SharePoint gives me and try to always use the direct link because then people know how to go look for the document or similar documents if the link is ever broken. I really do not understand the SharePoint provided link benefit anyway.
I do not have privileges but I can certainly push for someone to help me look into this. Would the site collection settings prevent from wanting to download? Seems like it would only dictate to open in native/client app or browser.
This is a new behavior that links are downloading instead of trying to open somewhere. 😞
