# Is it possible to change Office's default browser?



## ecuadoreric (Jun 12, 2005)

Hello. When I click a web link in an Excel spreadsheet or in a Word document, it insists on opening in IE, but I don't want it to open in IE. I use an add-on that extends IE's functionality (Maxthon) and, although it's not a browser, it's considered a browser in that it's my default browser. But links in Office apps insist on opening up in IE. But what if I want them to open up in Maxthon or, for that matter, Mozilla if Mozilla were my default browser? I realize Microsoft wants you to use Microsoft products, but is there any registry modification or anything else that will allow me to specify where I want web links in Office documents to open up? Thank you.


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## AdrianLewis (Jun 13, 2005)

Microsoft Windows uses the default Web browser setting when you click links in a document or on a Web page. Windows uses Microsoft Internet Explorer by default, but you can change to a different browser if you want to.

To change from Internet Explorer to another browser, do one of the following:

1> If you haven't installed another browser, do that first. During installation, most browsers display a message asking if you want to use that browser as the default browser. 
2> If the browser that you want to use is already installed, open it. You should see a message asking if you want to use that browser as the default browser. If you don't see the message, use the following instructions, but choose the browser that you want to use instead of Internet Explorer.


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## ecuadoreric (Jun 12, 2005)

Thank you for the reply, but I'm not talking about what browser _Windows_ uses by default. I'm talking about the browser that _MS Office_ uses. MS Office does _*not*_ use whatever default browser you're using; it forces IE. How do I know? From years of painful experience with Win 98, Win XP, Office 2000 and Office 2003. My default browser is Maxthon, but when I click a web link in Word or Excel, the web page opens in IE, not in Maxthon. So, again, my question is can I change this so that Office links will open in whatever my default browser is, which is Maxthon?


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## NoReason (Nov 15, 2004)

in excel, go to Tools -->options-->and the General tab.
Click the button that says "web options". Click the tab that says browsers, and choose yours.


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## hopper (May 21, 2005)

I have Office 2000 and the _only_ app that has that option is Word. Not even FrontPage, which you would think it definately would let you change the preview browser, wouldn't you? You have to design your webpages to look good in all browsers, for crying out loud. Word gave me a choice between IE 5.0 and IE 4.0, which is weird since I run IE 6. I didn't change my default browser in Windows, because you already said that it didn't change Office's defaults. I have alot of different browsers, even Netscape and opera. I spend as much time in Firefox as I do in IE. Office doesn't even acknowlege their existance.

There must be a registry hack or something, but I wouldn't know where.


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## hopper (May 21, 2005)

In Office 2003, all apps recognize Netscape.


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