Do you despise the web app versions of Office as much as me? Now you can share URLs that open your docs directly on the desktop (as it should be!)

  1. Open your doc in an Office app from Office 365, then go to File…Info…and get the path to the doc
    1. Append the appropriate prefix to the URL as follows:
      • WORD: ms-word:ofe|u|
      • EXCEL: ms-excel:ofe|u|
      • PPT : ms-powerpoint:ofe|u|
      • Others: see here
      • Your url should look something like this:
        • ms-word:ofe|u|https://your-site.sharepoint.com/your-path/Shared%20Documents/your-doc.docx?web=1
    2. Use your new URL to link directly to your Office doc and it will immediately open in the Desktop Office app for editing.
  • NOTE: Since appending the Office prefix will result in a non-standard URL, some tools will complain about the Office-specific URL and will prevent you from saving the link. Microsoft Teams is, surprisingly, one of many tools that will complain about this. I really wish the team would adopt a more standards-friendly approach (e.g. just use https://your-site.sharepoint.com/your-path/Shared%20Documents/your-doc.docx and let the browser invoke the associated application type).