TL;DR
Microsoft is making changes to the file open experience in classic Teams that will affect users in select scenarios, including Shared channels and the apps OneNote, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Due February to March 2024.

Details
Extract from the source admin centre message:

  • All files in Shared channels will now open in browser instead of within Teams. This will ensure that you can access all the latest features and functionalities of the web app. 
  • OneNote notebooks pinned to channels/chats or the Notes tab within channels will continue to open within Teams. However, OneNote files when launched from any other surface in Teams will open in browser. This is a temporary situation for a few weeks until we integrate latest file open behavior into the OneNote Teams app, at which point you can go back to working with these files within the Teams environment.
  • Word, Excel and PowerPoint files that were not pinned using the latest respective Teams’ apps need to be re-pinned for edit ready experience. This will enable you to edit and co-author the files directly from the tab without switching to another app or browser.
  • For users on classic Teams version older than 1.6.00.34970, files in the above scenarios will open in read only mode. 

Availability
Due February to March 2024 on classic Teams version 1.6.00.34970 and above.
The read-only experience is due February to March 2024 on classic Teams versions older than 1.6.00.34970.

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Source, related links, and references
MC709269.
Related: New Teams is losing the ability to open the website tab in the client.

Suggested action
Please share this page with your colleagues to prepare them for this update. By the time this change takes effect, you should really be thinking about using new Teams which will be the only option at the end of March.

Page originally published
26th January 2024 and kept up to date.

Want to know what else is late, new, and coming soon across M365 and Teams this month? Check out the latest roundup.

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