Microsoft Teams Office integration

Microsoft Team is a collaboration platform and Microsoft Office integration is one of the most important features. At the moment, if you’re working with files in Teams, opening files like document (Docx) and PowerPoint (ppt) is easy. You need to click on the file and it will automatically open in the browser.

Microsoft Teams currently forces its own built-in Office viewer or web version of Office, but this will change soon on Windows and macOS. In the near future, you’ll be able to open the file in a browser, Teams desktop app or standalone Office apps. The upcoming Microsoft Teams update will allow users to set a default option for opening files via Teams.

The option will be offered for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps. If you choose to open the file within Microsoft Teams’ Office viewer, the platform will automatically save changes to the original file, but this may not happen if you open the files in older Office desktop apps.

Microsoft Teams Office

As you can see in the above screenshot, you can change the default setting by heading to Settings > General. On the next screen, scroll down to the Files section and you will see a new dropmenu menu. Clicking on the dropdown menu will let you choose between these options:

  • Teams: Office viewer will automatically within Teams client to help users view documents or presentations.
  • Desktop app: Microsoft Teams will automatically open Office client on Windows or macOS.
  • Browser: Microsoft Teams will automatically open documents in Office web, but users cannot make changes to the file.

You can also click on the three dots option next to the shared file and directly change the default selection, as shown in the below screen.

Office default app for Teams

Or you can even manage the default Office integration from the “Files” section of Microsoft Teams.

Office integration in Teams

Microsoft Teams PowerPoint translation

Microsoft Teams slide translation feature for PowerPoint Live presentation is now rolling out to users in the production channel. This feature was first announced in May and it’s now widely available for users.

As the name suggests, Microsoft Teams will finally allow attendees to translate their slides on their own. The translation option will only be offered if the presentation is powered by the PowerPoint Live feature of Microsoft Teams. The company is planning to support nineteen languages, such as English, Spanish, German, French, Hindi, and Chinese.

PowerPoint translation in Teams

In addition to improved Office apps integration, Microsoft is also working on a new web-based Teams client for Windows 11 and Windows 10. Unlike the current Teams app, the new Teams 2.0 will offer better performance and fewer settings/controls, but it will be initially optimized for consumers.

About The Author

Mayank Parmar

Mayank Parmar is Windows Latest's owner, Editor-in-Chief and entrepreneur. Mayank has been in tech journalism for over seven years and has written on various topics, but he is mostly known for his well-researched work on Microsoft's Windows. His articles and research works have been referred to by CNN, Business Insiders, Forbes, Fortune, CBS Interactive, Microsoft and many others over the years.