Can I create a Word document in Sharepoint and have it automatically open in client application the first time?

Question

Hi!

We have a team Sharepoint site which has a bunch of libraries. All these libraries are set to open documents in client browser when opening files. However, when creating a new file by pressing "new" and the for example "Word document" the document always opens in the browser.

Company policy is to work solely in the application so it would be nice if there was a workaround where at the time of creation the file is created in the local application. Is there such setting hidden anywhere?

Thanks!

Ype

Answer 1

Hi @Ype de Boer,

Thank you for posting in this community.

For SharePoint, we can't set inline Office files to be created in the local application.

However, if you really need to create new documents locally, you can do so by customed content type.

The steps are as follows:

1.Ensure that you are an administrator of the site collection or have full control over the site set. Navigate to the settings for your site collection. Click Site content types under Web Designer Galleries.

2.Create content type.

Enter the name of your content type. Select the category to which the content type belongs. You can also customize a category. Select Parent category as Document Content Types and Content Type as Document. Click Create when you are done.

3.Create a word document locally as a template for the content type. Since the template cannot be a blank document, you need to add some content to the document. A few characters will do, just make sure the document is not blank.

4.Click on Advanced settings to upload the template file you just created. Click save when you are done.

5.This is created to customize the content type of the word file. You can repeat the above steps to create content types for other file types. For example, excel and presentation documents. You just need to modify the template they use.

6.Navigate to one of your document library settings. Click Advanced settings > set Allow management of content types to yes > set Default open behavior for browser-enabled documents to Open in the client application. Click OK when you are done.

7.Click Add from existing site content types under Content Types.

8.Select the category of your custom content types, find all the custom content types you just created and add them. Click ok when you are done.

9.Now when you create it, you can select the type of content you create. The document will open in the local application. Note that when the document is saved, you need to select the document library where it will be saved.

10.You can repeat the above steps to add your customized content types for your other document libraries as well.

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