If someone shared a SharePoint Excel file with you — through a link, a Teams message, or an email — you might find yourself navigating through your browser every time you need to open it. This guide shows you how to create a desktop shortcut that opens the file directly in the Excel desktop app, with full editing and co-authoring support.

Before you start

Make sure you have:

  1. Microsoft Excel installed on your computer (Microsoft 365 or Office 2016/2019)
  2. Access to the shared SharePoint file — you should already be able to open it in your browseR

This guide is for Windows. The shortcut approach works best when you have the Excel desktop app installed — not just Excel Online in the browser.

Step 1: Find your Excel installation path

Before creating the shortcut, confirm where Excel is installed on your machine.

Locate EXCEL.EXE on your computer

  1. Open File Explorerand navigate to:C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\
  2. Look for EXCEL.EXEin that folder.
  3. If it’s not there, try:C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16

Alternatively, search for Excel in the Start menu, right-click it, and choose Open file location to find the exact path.

Step 2: Get the direct SharePoint file URL

This is the most important step. You need the direct file path — not a sharing link. Sharing links (which look like sharepoint.com/:x:/s/…) don’t reliably open in Excel desktop and may open read-only.

Open the file and copy its direct path

  1. Open the shared file in your browser using whatever link you were given.
  2. In Excel Online, clickFilein the top-left corner.
  3. At the bottom of the menu, click“Open in Desktop”to launch the file in the Excel desktop app.
  4. Once open in Excel desktop, click File → Info.
  5. You will see the SharePoint path listed at the top of the Info page. Click Copy Path.

The path should look something like this:

https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/YourSite/Shared%20Documents/Folder/YourFile.xlsx

If the path ends with ?web=1, remove that part before using it in your shortcut. That parameter forces the file to open in the browser.

Step 3: Create the desktop shortcut

Build the shortcut with the Excel path and file URL

  1. Right-click an empty area of yourDesktop.
  2. ChooseNew → Shortcut.
  3. In the location field, enter the following — replacing the URL with the one you copied in Step 2:

“C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE” “https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/YourSite/Shared%20Documents/Folder/YourFile.xlsx”

  1. ClickNext, give the shortcut a friendly name (e.g.2026 Budget), then clickFinish.

Create Shortcut dialog on the naming screen, ready to click Finish

The second screen of the Create Shortcut wizard — give it a clear name and click Finish.

Both the Excel path and the SharePoint URL must each be wrapped in their own set of quotation marks, with a space between them. Missing quotes are the most common cause of this not working.

Step 4: Test it

Double-click your new shortcut. Excel should launch and open the file directly — no browser, no “Open in Desktop App” prompt. The file should open in edit mode with AutoSave enabled in the top-left corner.

If AutoSave is toggled on in the top-left of Excel, you’re in full co-authoring mode. Any colleagues who open the file at the same time will see your changes in real time.

Troubleshooting

The file opens as read-only

This usually means a sharing link was used instead of the direct file path. Go back to Step 2 and make sure you’re copying the path from File → Info inside the Excel desktop app — not from the browser address bar. If a yellow “Read-Only” banner appears, click Edit Workbook on that banner to unlock it for that session.

Excel can’t connect to the URL

The URL copied from the browser address bar may contain ?web=1 or be in a _layouts/15/Doc.aspx format — both are browser-only URLs that Excel cannot open directly. Use the path from File → Info inside Excel desktop instead.

The file opens in the browser instead of Excel

Make sure both paths in the shortcut target are surrounded by their own quotation marks. A missing quote will cause Windows to misread the command and fall back to opening the URL in your default browser.

Excel isn’t at the Office16 path

Press Win + S, type Excel, right-click the result, and choose Open file location to find the exact path to EXCEL.EXE on your machine.

Co-authoring: working on the file with others

Once the file is stored on SharePoint and everyone opens it using the direct path (like the shortcut you just created), co-authoring happens automatically. You’ll see a colored cursor for each person editing simultaneously, and changes sync in real time — no manual saving needed.

For co-authoring to work smoothly, make sure:

  1. Everyone opens the file from SharePoint — not from a locally downloaded copy saved to their PC.
  2. AutoSave is turned on in the top-left corner of Excel.
  3. Everyone has edit permission to the file in SharePoint, not just view access.

Quick recap

  • ✓Find your Excel path — usually C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE
  • ✓Open the file in Excel desktop and copy the direct path from File → Info
  • ✓Remove?web=1from the end of the URL if present
  • ✓Create a new shortcut on your desktop with both paths in their own quotes
  • ✓Double-click to open — AutoSave on means co-authoring is live