The new Outlook for Windows will open web links in Microsoft Edge side-by-side with the email, enhancing productivity. This feature will be rolled out from late July to late September 2024 and applies to links from AAD and MSA accounts. Organizations can configure this behavior using the Cloud Policy service or Administrative Templates for Microsoft 365 Apps. Users will be notified of this change and can manage their preferences in Outlook settings.
To help increase productivity while working online, web links from Azure Active Directory (AAD) accounts and Microsoft (MSA) accounts in the new 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.
We're adding this to the new Outlook for windows to have a consistent experience across our applications. If you have previously managed this change for the classic Outlook for Windows (MC545904, MC548092, MC541626) or for Teams (MC669480), your configuration will also apply to the new Outlook for Windows. If you wish to maintain this configuration across all three apps, no action is required.
Note: This does not change the default browser setting in Windows.
When will this affect your organization:
We will begin rolling out in late July 2024 and expect to complete by late September 2024.
How this will affect your organization:
Web links from emails in the new Outlook for Windows app will open side-by-side with the email in Microsoft Edge so users can easily reference the link and email without switching back and forth between apps. Links will open in Microsoft Edge even if it is not the system default browser in Windows.
What you need to do to prepare:
To manage this change, you will need to configure the Choose which browser opens web links policy, which is available today, using the Cloud Policy service for Microsoft 365 (formerly the Office Cloud Policy Service) and Administrative Templates for Microsoft 365 Apps.
If your organization uses a Microsoft 365 for business plan, your users will need to manage this change individually through the Outlook settings menu: Settings > General > Files and links > Open hyperlinks from Outlook in.
Example of the user notification experience
Read more about how we’re improving the experience between Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Edge with this feature in: Web links from Outlook and Teams open in Microsoft Edge in side-by-side view - Outlook | Microsoft Learn.