In sharepoint how can I choose the app to open the document

Question

Good day,

I'm trying to open a .csv from SharePoint but it always Excel that is the default app and I would like it to open in an othe app. It works if I have the document on my desktop but not when I'm in SharePoint online.

many thanks

Answer 1

Hi @Nancy DEMERS,

Thank you for your reply.

Of course, you can set files on SharePoint to open with office apps by default. You can set this setting to apply to files in a document library or to files on all sites in a site collection.

1.Setting all files in a document library to open with office software by default. To set this up, make sure you have full control over the document library.

Please go to Site contents->click the document library which you want to set up ->Settings.

In Settings page, please select Advanced settings->Opening Documents in the Browser. Setting up to open in the client application.

2.Setting all files on all sites in a site collection to open with office apps by default. To set this up, make sure you are the site collection administrator.

Please go to Site contents->click the Site Settings->Site Collection Administration-> Go to top level site settings. (If you are already on the top-level site of the site collection, then you can just go to Site contents->click the Site Settings->Site Collection Administration).

Please go to Site Collection Administration->Site collection features->Active the "Open Documents in Client Applications by Default" feature.

If you can't see the Site collection features option, then you are not an administrator of the site collection. You can view or set up the site collection administrator based on this article:

Site Collection Administrator in SharePoint Online – A Comprehensive Guide!

Note: Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. The sites are not controlled by Microsoft. Microsoft cannot make any representations regarding the quality, safety, or suitability of any software or information found there. Please make sure that you completely understand the risk before retrieving any suggestions from the above link. 

In my test, the .csv files will be opened in Excel by default.

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Answer 2

Hi @Nancy DEMERS,

Thank you for posting in this community.

First, I would like to confirm with you on your question: are you trying to use non-Office apps to open the form file?

If yes, then I feel regretful to inform you that currently SharePoint Online does not support non-Office apps to open excel files. The opening of .csv files using Excel is handled by SharePoint, this is by design, and we can't change it for now.

Perhaps the only way to do this at the moment is to download the file to your local computer and then open it using other apps.

Please accept my sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

If I misunderstand something, please let me know. We will do our best to help you.

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