File open Preference set "open in app" for all users

Question

Hi all,

MSTeams has a setting for File open Preference. The setting allows the option to "Always open Word, Powerpoint, and Excel files in:" 1) Teams, 2) Desktop App and 3) Browser.

Is there a Group Policy or PowerShell command which can set this for "All Users" to open in the "Desktop App"?

Thanks in advance,

Answer 1

Hi @Sarah ,

Is there a Group Policy or PowerShell command which can set this for "All Users" to open in the "Desktop App"?

I am afriad no, as indicated in this document, this is a user preference setting, so per my understanding it can only be controlled by users themselves.

Below is a blog which mentioned about this:
New Option to Control How Teams Clients Open Office Documents
Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

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Answer 2

Bit of a necro, but thanks to @Vincent Lafond I managed to find this for New Teams as well. In %localappdata%\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams there is a app_settings.json file that stores this setting. Close Teams and run the following Powershell script in user context:

# Set the working directory  
Set-Location -Path "$env:localappdata\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams"  
  
# Load the JSON file  
$json = Get-Content 'app_settings.json' | ConvertFrom-Json  
  
# Modify the JSON file  
$json.open_file_in_desktop_app = $true  
  
# Save the changes back to the JSON file  
$json | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 20 | Set-Content 'app_settings.json' 

Start teams again and the setting will be set to "Desktop App".