- Microsoft is making changes to force Outlook and Teams to open links on Edge.
- The change will apply regardless of the default browser preferences configured on Windows 11.
- Thus far, Widgets and Search, and now Outlook and Teams, are the products ignoring the default browser settings.
On Windows 11, regardless of your default browser configuration, Outlook and Microsoft Teams links will open on Microsoft Edge. According to a new report for The Verge, the software giant is again making it more difficult for users to use another browser, such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, by forcing links from the Outlook and Teams apps to open on Microsoft Edge, ignoring your browser preferences completely.
Microsoft is already sending messages to network administrators on Microsoft 365 admin center (via Reddit) about the change saying that “web links from Azure Active Directory (AAD) accounts and Microsoft (MSA) accounts in the Outlook for Windows app will open in Microsoft Edge in a single view showing the opened link side-by-side with the email it came from,”
Although the company rolled back some previous changes and made it easier to change the default browser to use something else other than Microsoft Edge, it appears that Microsoft products will ignore user preferences. On Windows 11, contents from Widgets, the Bing AI integration, and search results links are already open on the company’s browser, and now, Outlook and Teams will also ignore the default browser settings completely.
According to the report, this will be the default behavior moving forward. However, Microsoft 365 Enterprise IT administrators will be able to restore the original settings for Outlook and Teams through policies, but customers on Microsoft 365 for business will have to manage this change on a per-device basis.
The news comes shortly as the company said that new changes are coming to how apps open specific files and links by default to “ensure user choices are respected.” However, forcing users to open links on Microsoft Edge is clearly not respecting the user’s choice.
Although the new version of Edge based on Google’s Chromium project is a great browser, it’s not an application that everyone wants to use and trying to force it down to everyone not only affects users but also competition. However, the company seems to be doing everything it can to grow its user base.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows expert and the Editor-in-Chief who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He is also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 12 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows, software, and related technologies, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.