How to disable Office file viewer in Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge has a number of advantages over Chrome and Firefox, including being much less resource-intensive and having a user interface that integrates better with other Microsoft apps. However, Edge has a rather annoying feature that opens Office documents immediately instead of downloading them to your device for later viewing. Here's how to disable the Office file viewer in Edge.

Instructions to disable Office file viewer on Edge via Settings

Step 1:

Open Edge browser and click on the 3 dots icon , select Settings in the list.

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Step 2:

In the new interface, users click on the Downloads item on the left side.

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Step 3:

Look at the content next to it and you will see the option Open Office files in the browser is default to on . We will turn this option off to disable the Office file viewer on Edge.

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After turning it off, every time you download an Office file on the Edge browser, you will be asked whether you want to open the file immediately or save it, so that users can choose according to their needs.

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Jessica Tanner

Update 13 January 2025