stop auto opening downloads

Question

when i download a document it automatically opens it. I want to have it download only and not open until i click on it to open *Moved from Microsoft 365 and Office | Microsoft 365 Defender | Other | MacOS

Answer 1

Hi Christopher L. Collin,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum. I understand that you’re experiencing an issue where downloaded files automatically open instead of staying in your folder until you choose to open them.

This behavior is usually caused by browser settings, not Microsoft 365 apps. To help you fix this, could you please confirm which browser you’re using?

If you’re using Microsoft Edge, here’s what to do:

1. Click Settings and more (three dots) in the top-right corner.
2. Go to Settings > Downloads.
3. Turn off "Open Office files in the browser".
4. While a file is downloading, right-click on it in the download bar and uncheck “Always open files of this type.”

Please keep me posted on how it goes, and feel free to reach out if you need any further assistance. I’m here to help.

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Answer 2

I experinced the same issue with PDF-files. I found the issue to be caused by Adobe Reader.
I believe the issue are these selections, but was not able to uncheck them (they "rechecked " after relaunch). After uninstalling Adobe Reader the issue also stopped.