Microsoft Stops Automatic Office Web App Installs on Windows 10

Last weekend, Windows 10 started installing Office web apps automatically without user consent after force restarting everyone’s systems. This caused an outcry on the internet with several tech publications confirming it, and gladly, Microsoft was quick to respond and has stopped the unsolicited installs.

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Microsoft has said that it was “partly” a mistake and that they will now be pausing the “migration” of the web apps to your Start menu. They also added that originally the idea was that any website you pinned to the Start menu would launch in Microsoft Edge (even if your default browser is different). They simply intended these shortcuts to be more visible tiles now.

This also turned Microsoft’s existing Office Web shortcuts into progressive web apps which the company is calling “a bug”. This is something you can do from inside the Microsoft Edge browser but it shouldn’t happen automatically. The company said that they have been pinning Office web apps into the Start menu since May 2019.

Microsoft has currently paused this practice due to the outcry but it remains to be seen if anything will change as a result or if the company will continue to advertise its apps the same way.