Outlook for Windows and Teams Will Soon Open Links in Microsoft Edge By Default

Microsoft will soon make web links from emails in the Outlook for Windows app open in Microsoft Edge by default. The company recently announced the change on its Microsoft 365 Admin center (via The Verge), and it’s planning to roll out a similar change to Microsoft Teams as well.

The software giant claims that this upcoming change is designed to “help increase productivity while working online,” though the experience in Outlook for Windows will differ depending on the email sender:

• Web links from Azure AD accounts and personal Microsoft accounts will open in a new Edge tab, and the email that included the links will open next to that tab in the Edge sidebar.
• Web links from other accounts will open in an Edge tab without the side-by-side experience.
• Links that are set to open in a client app or within Outlook for Windows will continue to do so.

“In the future, a similar experience will arrive in Teams, with web links from chats opening side-by-side with those chats in Microsoft Edge,” the company explained. If you’re an IT pro worrying about these changes disrupting the workflow of users in your organization, Microsoft will send a 30 days notice before the change is implemented in Outlook for Windows.

Fortunately, organizations with a Microsoft 365 for enterprise plan will be able to manage this change by using a new policy to keep opening web links in a different browser. However, organizations with a Microsoft 365 for business plan will need to have their users manage this change individually in Edge or Outlook settings.

Even though this upcoming change regarding web links in Outlook for Windows and Microsoft Teams won’t affect the default browser setting in Windows, it’s hard not to react to Microsoft’s heavy-handed approach to push more users to use its Edge browser. The company previously ruffled some feathers when it made Windows Search and Windows 11 widgets open links in Microsoft Edge by default, and this clearly isn’t the best way to make your web browser more popular.