Need to stop office apps from EVER opening in a browser on my PC. Was told to post here by answers.microsoft

Question

I need to stop files (Excel files on SharePoint/OneDrive primarily) from opening in a browser on my PC. I feel like I've tried everything. All the advice I get is to click on the ellipses and select "open in desktop app", or go to SharePoint and set the advanced open settings to "open in the client application". Neither of these work in my situation. (I can explain why if you need that info, but it is uninteresting). I need my computer to never open a file in a browser, even if I forget to click the ellipses and specify how to open. Or maybe I don't realize I'm looking at a SharePoint library instead of file explorer because I'm in a hurry. Whatever the reason, I need office files to open in their desktop apps no matter what. If that can't be done for some reason, an error message would be fine. Even BSOD would be preferable to opening the file in a browser. Just anything I can do (hopefully not destructive, like gimping the browser install) to make it so my PC simply cannot open a file in a browser. Sorry for being long-winded, I've just asked the question to several people so I'm trying to preempt some of the suggestions that I've already received. The advice I got from answers.microsoft.com was to post here:
Moreover, if your requirement is to prevent any type of the file to open in the browser irrespective of it storage location on your computer, I would like to suggest you cross-post your concern in the Ask a question - Microsoft Q&A with Office & Windows tag to get the detailed help from experts.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi @Patrick Ldierts,

Thank you for posting in this community.

I know how you feel, sometimes we do wish that when we click on files in Share Point Online or OneDrive Online they automatically open in the local client.

The methods mentioned in your question do work (these are documented in the official documentation), but there may be some parts that are missing that make it not work. Don't worry, try the method below to see if it works:

For SharePoint Online:

1. Activate the “Open Documents in Client Applications by Default” feature. This action requires that you use the administrator account for the current site collection or that you have the Full Control permission level for the current site collection. a. Navigate to the target site first. b. Click the gear icon in the upper-right corner. c. Select site information from the list. On the next screen, click the “View all site settings” link. d. Click site collection features link. Then, activate the “Open Documents in Client Applications by Default” feature. This will ensure that Office files stored in SharePoint open in the desktop app, never in Office Online apps.
2. Since I am not sure what browser you are using, it is likely that your browser is blocking your request to open the file in the local client. Therefore, I recommend that you use Microsoft Edge to access SharePoint Online. If that is Microsoft Edge you are using, then please clear your browser cache and then see if the problem is resolved.

For OneDrive Online:

1. Activate the “Open Documents in Client Applications by Default” feature.
   1. Navigate to the target site first.
   2. Click the gear icon in the upper-right corner. Click OneDrive settings link.
   3. More settings >Site collection features.
   4. Activate the “Open Documents in Client Applications by Default” feature.
2. Try using Microsoft Edge to access OneDrive Online.

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Answer 2

Hi @Patrick Ldierts,

Thank you for your reply.

First of all, since SharePoint Online is primarily a browser-side oriented application, it opens files in the browser by default. So yes, you need to configure the sites where all the files you need to access are located as I mentioned above.

Secondly, this setting will change the way the entire site opens files by default. it will change the way files are opened for all users who access the site. There is no way to change the way one person opens a file.

But here I found an article about setting office file links to open only in apps, you can see if this can be of some help to you: Open file links directly in Office desktop apps.

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Answer 3

Hi Ling,

Thank you for your reply! Question before I talk to my IT guys about Administrator/Full Control permissions. In the steps you outline, the first step is: a. Navigate to the target site first. I don't have a 'target' site. I need my computer (just me) to always open files in client apps, no matter where the link comes from, where the file resides, etc. Can I just do this for any particular SharePoint site at my company and it will apply to all sites I visit in the future, or would I need to go to each SharePoint site in my company that I could possibly be sent a link to? There are hundreds, and I'm definitely not going to be able to get admin permissions on all of them. Also, these settings will only apply to me, correct? I don't want to change the way someone else open files when they are using SharePoint at my company. I need my computer to never open an Excel file in a browser, and the next best thing would be NOT opening the file at all and giving me an error message. The very worst result would be opening in a browser.

Answer 4

I'd like to ask, if there is anyways to also have all none MS applications from opening in the viewers and in the actual programs. If MS wants people to use SharePoint as their one stop solution they need to deal with non MS programs better.

Answer 5

Is there any further update on this? Opening in browser by default just increases every single file access to additionally select opening in app. I am yet to meet a person who actually wants to primarily open any document in the browser.