Opening documents in desktop app as default

Question

Opening documents in desktop app as default

Abdullah 20

Hi,

We have recently moved to using M365 and are navigating through Team to access files,

We are unable to open files such as word, excel or PDF's in the desktop app or adobe acrobat as default with one click. I have seen users online do this and know it is possible. However, whenever we go into the setting, there isn't an option ot select 'desktop app' as default. Only 'Teams' or 'Browser' show as options.

Further this, we are unable to drag and drop files directly from outlook into teams or SharePoint to save the files or drag files from teams into outlook.

Is there a solution to any o these problems please?

I look forward to hearing your response.

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Stefan Blom 340.6K MVP Volunteer Moderator

As far as I know, drag & drop a document into an e-mail will only add the doc as a "traditional" file attachment (OneDrive won't be offered as an option in this scenario).

You can set Adobe Reader (or whatever program you prefer to read PDFs with) as the system default which should ensure that PDFs do not open in the web browser. For instructions, see https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/hub/how-to-change-your-default-pdf-viewer.html.

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Answer 1

Stefan Blom 340.6K MVP Volunteer Moderator

Which version of Office do you have?

In the full version for Windows, at File > Options > Advanced, you should be able to select "Desktop" for Open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files using.

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Abdullah 20 Reputation points

2025-08-18T16:11:54.1733333+00:00

Perfect thank you.

That has solved the office document problem but how can I do the same with PDF's please
Stefan Blom 340.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-08-18T16:14:38.73+00:00

Perfect thank you. That has solved the office document problem but how can I do the same with PDF's please

You are welcome. I don't know if a similar option exists in Adobe Reader.
Abdullah 20 Reputation points

2025-08-18T16:31:39.33+00:00

Okay thank you.

We are also unable to drag and drop files between applications. Is there a workaround for this?

Many thanks
Stefan Blom 340.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-08-18T16:45:17.86+00:00

Do you mean that you want to drag the icon for an Excel file into a Word document, for example? You can do that, and the end result will be an embedded Excel workbook. You can double-click it to open the workbook. Note that no link will be created, that is, if you edit the embedded file, the modifications won't be saved back to the original.

If you do want a linked object, you can use the Insert Object dialog box instead.
Abdullah 20 Reputation points

2025-08-18T18:51:36.6566667+00:00

I mean we would like to drag and drop files from or to outlook to either upload as an attachment or to save the file to the relevant location on SharePoint/OneDrive.
Stefan Blom 340.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-08-18T19:20:05.0833333+00:00

I mean we would like to drag and drop files from or to outlook to either upload as an attachment or to save the file to the relevant location on SharePoint/OneDrive.

Sorry, I missed that part, also included in your original question. I avoided answering that because I haven't experimented with it at all.
Abdullah 20 Reputation points

2025-08-20T09:46:16.9233333+00:00

Hi @Stefan Blom ,

Are there any other steps required here for this to work please?

I have tried on a colleagues device and it doesn't seem to work. We all have the same licence and are on the same Office version.

Thanks

A
Abdullah 20 Reputation points

2025-08-20T10:08:27.5666667+00:00

Sorry @Stefan Blom

I was referring back to opening word in the desktop app as default'.

I haven't been able to set this us for others in the office. Is there a setting I might be missing?

Cheers

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Opening documents in desktop app as default

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