Microsoft Teams provides businesses with an excellent solution for managing file storage and collaboration. It has its own editor for Word and other Microsoft 365 app files that can be useful for some quick, small changes. However, for larger edits and authoring, it is usually much easier to open the file in the corresponding desktop application such as Word. The functionality is usually better and the formatting can be a bit difficult when editing in Teams itself. New in the preview release of Microsoft Teams is the ability to set the default opening behavior.

The process of updating the file opening behavior is fairly simple and can be done in two ways. This feature is currently only available on the preview version of Teams.

When opening a file, clicking the ellipsis button on the right side or right clicking on the file row will bring up a menu.

This is the same menu that has previously been used to open in the desktop app instead of in Teams. This menu now has an option to change the default app. This will open a small window with Teams, Desktop app, and Browser as options to select for the default opening behavior.

When released on general availability, the process should be the same. The other option is to open the settings by clicking the ellipsis at the very top right of the window, next to the profile picture. On the general tab, scroll down to the Files section. There is a dropdown menu to choose between opening in Teams, the desktop app, or in browser.

After changing the default option, simply left clicking the file will now open the file in the desktop app instead of within Teams. This default can always be manually overridden in the same way it has in the past. Open that ellipsis/right-click menu and select the desired option.

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The Microsoft 365 business applications are strongly connected and make it easy for teams to collaborate. If you’re interested in learning more about our Microsoft 365 offerings and other Microsoft business products, get in contact with one of our consultants!