SharePoint - Desktop App as Default

Owned by Dan Jakubiak
Last updated: Dec 06, 2023
3 min read

Students, faculty, and staff may change how the SharePoint website opens files. By default, the website will first try to open the file within the web browser. Users may change this setting so that SharePoint will instead defer to an application installed on their computer.

Learn more about the “Open in app” function in the SharePoint - Open in app guide.

At this time, changing the default action will only assist in opening Microsoft 365 files (Word, Excel, PPT, etc.). For non-365 files, users need to right click on the file and choose Open → Open in app.

Set your default action

You must be a site owner to make this change.

  1. Visit s.uconn.edu/sharepoint and sign in with your email address and NetID password.

  2. Click on the SharePoint site you would like to alter.

Set action per Document Library

If you would like to make this change site wide, please skip to the next section.

  1. Click on your Document Library on the left side of the page.
    It will likely be called “Documents”. These libraries are where your files reside.

  2. Click on the settings gear icon in the upper-right corner.
    Note: this gear icon will take an extra second to load after the page finishes loading.

  3. Click on Library settings and then More library settings.

  4. Click on Advanced settings.

  5. Change the default action for Opening Documents in the Browser.

  6. Scroll down and click Okay when you would like to save your changes.

Stop here if you wish to only change this Document Library’s default action.

Set action at site level

Choosing your setting here will affect all Document Libraries on your SharePoint site.

  1. At your SharePoint’s Home page, click on the settings gear icon in the upper-right corner.
    Note: this gear icon will take an extra second to load after the page finishes loading.

  2. Click on Site information and then View all site settings.

  3. Click on Site collection features.

  4. Find Open Documents in Client Applications by Default and click on Activate.
    You will need to return to this page if you wish to Deactivate this choice in the future.

Related Guides