Make Chrome email link default (not Edge)

Hi @Helen Taylor ,

Glad to hear this issue has been resolved!

Thanks for the sharing.

However, due to a recent update in forum policy, the question author now is not able to accept their own answers.

So I have written a brief summary of the solution this issue. Please feel free to accept it as the answer, which would benefit others who also has similar issues in forum.

Issue:

When OP clicks on links within email in Outlook, they automatically open up in Edge. OP wants the default to be Chrome.

Solution:

OP found an answer in another thread that worked! It was posted by a Microsoft Moderator called Gabriel Bratton. The post can be found at this link but is also pasted below in italics: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/outlook-links-dont-open-in-chrome-set-as-default/7e498496-7b9b-4cef-9fe2-ca0fae9daf1f?page=11

For those of you that have Office perpetual such as Office Home and Business 2021 it appears there is a bug that the setting is appearing under File, Options, Advanced, File and Browser preferences, but the picker is missing. I am going to submit a bug for this issue.

From my testing if you want to change the browser that opens links you could do these steps that will make Outlook use the Windows default browser setting. If you get a chance to test this and confirm if it worked, please let me know.

1. In Windows set the default browser that you want to use (Settings, Default Apps).

2. In the registry check if you have any of these registry keys under this Links registry path below and if so delete them.

3. Restart Outlook

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Links

BrowserChoice

BrowserChoiceTime

DecisionComplete

I found an answer in another thread that worked! It was posted by a Microsoft Moderator called Gabriel Bratton. The post can be found at this link but is also pasted below in italics: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/outlook-links-dont-open-in-chrome-set-as-default/7e498496-7b9b-4cef-9fe2-ca0fae9daf1f?page=11

For those of you that have Office perpetual such as Office Home and Business 2021 it appears there is a bug that the setting is appearing under File, Options, Advanced, File and Browser preferences, but the picker is missing. I am going to submit a bug for this issue.

From my testing if you want to change the browser that opens links you could do these steps that will make Outlook use the Windows default browser setting. If you get a chance to test this and confirm if it worked, please let me know.

1. In Windows set the default browser that you want to use (Settings, Default Apps).

2. In the registry check if you have any of these registry keys under this Links registry path below and if so delete them.

3. Restart Outlook

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Links

BrowserChoice

BrowserChoiceTime

DecisionComplete

Hi @Helen Taylor ,

Thanks for your reply!

The option you are searching for is supported in Outlook 365, as shown in the below image. More information: Open file links directly in Office desktop apps. Considering that you are using Outlook 2016, the option not to show up in your Outlook is the expected behavior.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Make sure Chrome as your Default Browser.

Now try this:

Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter key.

Navigate to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.html.

Ensure the (Default) value is set to ChromeHTML

Restart Outlook and test again