Web links from Outlook and Teams open in Microsoft Edge in side-by-side view

• Applies to:

  Outlook for Microsoft 365

When you select a web link in a Microsoft Outlook for Windows email or in a Microsoft Teams for Windows chat, it will open in Microsoft Edge. When the link opens in Edge, the associated email or chat will open next to it in the Edge sidebar. This side-by-side feature experience is designed to minimize switching between windows so that you can continue to stay in the flow of your work when referencing web links.

This feature requires Outlook Build 16.0.16227.20280 or later. It was previously announced in the blog post Discover new ways to multitask with Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Edge.)

You can manage the choice of browser that's used to open web links from Outlook and Teams. You can also allow individual users to manage this feature by using each app's settings.

Manage the new feature for Outlook and Teams by configuring a policy

To manage this change in your organization for both Outlook and Teams, you need to configure the following policy:

Name: Choose Which Browser Opens Web Links

Description: This policy controls which browser will open web links from within supported Microsoft 365 apps. By default, web links will open in Microsoft Edge.

Note: This policy doesn't override any user settings or policies that specify that document links should open in the desktop apps instead of their web app counterparts.

If you enable this policy, you can choose either "System default browser" or a specific browser, such as "Microsoft Edge." "System default browser" refers to the browser setting specified on the user's Windows device.

If you disable or don't configure this policy, web links will open in Microsoft Edge. The user can set their preferred browser from the settings for the specific Microsoft 365 app.

If you want Outlook or Teams to open web links using the system default browser, you need to enable this policy and select System default browser.

Notes:

• This policy applies to the desktop clients for Outlook for Windows and Teams for Windows only and doesn't affect the system default browser for Windows.
• Configuring this policy enables the feature experience for both Outlook and Teams. You can't use this policy to enable the feature experience for these apps individually.

You have two options where you can manage this policy:

Option 1: Cloud Policy service for Microsoft 365

Follow these steps to manage the policy in the Cloud Policy service for Microsoft 365:

1. Navigate to the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center, and then select Sign in.

2. Under Office policies, select Go to Microsoft 365 Cloud Policy.

3. Under Policy configurations, select Create.

4. Provide a name and description for your policy, and then select Next.

5. Select the appropriate scope, such as creating a group or adding to an existing group.

6. Select Next.

7. Under Configure Settings, search for "Choose which browser opens web links".

   

8. Select the Choose which browser opens web links policy.

9. Adjust Configuration setting to the desired configuration, and then select Apply.

10. Select Next.

11. Review your policy, then select Create.

12. Select Done.

Option 2: Administrative Templates for Microsoft 365

1. Download the latest Administrative Templates for Microsoft 365 (ADMX files).

2. Open them in the Group Policy Management Editor.

3. Locate the policy: Policies > Administrative Templates: Policy definitions (ADMX files) > Microsoft Office 2016 > Links > Choose which browser opens web links.

4. Configure the policy.

5. Select Apply.

   

Note

If your organization uses the Microsoft 365 for business plan, then you can use the Choose Which Browser Opens Web Links policy to manage the feature for Teams. However, the policy is unavailable for Outlook with this plan. Your users will need to manage the feature by using Outlook settings as described in the following section.

Allow users to manage the new feature

If you prefer to let your users manage this feature, then either leave the Choose Which Browser Opens Web Links policy unconfigured or disable the policy. Microsoft Edge will open as the new default experience when users open a web links from either Outlook or Teams for the first time, and then they can manage this behavior by using the appropriate app settings or through a banner notification:

• Outlook settings: File > Options > Advanced > File and browser preferences.

• Teams settings: Settings > Files and links > Link open preference.

• Banner notification: A banner notification is shown when users first see the experience. They can either select the Try Edge option to keep using the feature or select Manage my settings to revert to their system's default browser experience.

  

The choices that a user makes in Outlook settings or Teams settings will apply across both apps.

Note: If you confirm this experience by enabling the policy and selecting Microsoft Edge, users will still receive this banner, but the Manage my settings option will be grayed out and unavailable to use.

For more information about how users can individually control this experience, see Web links from Outlook and Teams open in Microsoft Edge.