Ref.ly links in Microsoft Office on Windows

Nick Mueller

Beginning in v39 Beta 2, we added support to Logos to open ref.ly links directly without opening a browser tab. To do that, we registered Logos in Windows' "Apps for websites" function, which is Microsoft's recommended approach for tools to directly open links that would otherwise go to your web browser. Unfortunately, a small number of apps do not support Apps for websites, including Microsoft's own Office suite. We understand that users frequently use Office alongside Logos and wish that Office supported Apps for websites.

If you would like to express similar disappointment, you can provide feedback to Microsoft directly in the Office apps through the in-app feedback function. One example of a helpful message might look like this:

I have installed Logos Bible Study. It has an "Apps for websites" handler for ref.ly that is enabled in Window Settings (under Apps > Apps for websites). When I enter the URL https://ref.ly/Jn3:16 into Wordpad and click it, it opens the associated "App for website". However, when I enter that URL into Word and click it, it opens my default browser. Word should respect the "Apps for websites" that are configured in Windows.

In the meantime, we have found a method to work around the limitations in Microsoft Office. The registry script found here should redirect links from Office to properly respect Apps for websites. All other links should open in your preferred browser as expected. This script has been tested on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Edge (Dev), Brave and Opera.

Opening ref.ly links in Microsoft Office on Mac is unaffected and should open directly into Logos.

NB.Mick

I can confirm the registry script works. Thanks guys!

Aaron Hamilton

This is an interesting fix; thank you!

Justin Gatlin

Still not working for me. I ran the script, tried it, and when it didn't work restarted my computer. I tried it again and it still didn't work. The shortcut I made on my desktop to a ref.ly link opens the browser when I click it, but if I right click it, it shows the Logos icon next to open (but still opens Edge from the right-click window; I changed my default browser to Chrome and still get the same results, although I didn't think that would work).

Edit: It is not working for me. I manually added the websites for apps key in the registry, I don't know why it was missing or why it showed up in settings without being enabled. But it seems like it was a Windows issue rather than a Logos one. Thanks for the quick fix.

Harry Hahne

Thanks. This should remove the annoyance that the links always open the Web app in a Web browser, then they open the appropriate resource in the desktop app.

Dave Hooton

@Nick Mueller

In the meantime, we have found a method to work around the limitations in Microsoft Office. The registry script found

here should redirect links from Office to properly respect Apps for websites.

Not working for Firefox. It is as if logosres does not exist when I set it to open in Verbum (default) or Always ask, because it only opens Logos (which is side-by-side with Verbum) to its current layout.

Nick Mueller

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1351259#Comment_1351259

You're saying that it opens to the wrong app and it doesn't open to the location specified by the link?

The first part - opening to the wrong app - is somewhat expected. The way we have it set up, we include branding on that screen so that if you only have Logos or Verbum installed you will see the correct branding, but it doesn't actually impact which app is opened. Under the hood, it uses the same logic as logos4 links, which I believe should open the last app that was opened. It's a limitation of the underlying technology that we're using for this. We might consider enhancing it in the future, but it should only impact users that are running Logos and Verbum side-by-side and actively using both instances.

Dave Hooton

@Nick Mueller

On opening to the wrong app (with the ref.ly registration workaround for Firefox):

• if both apps are closed, the link opened Verbum and the document to the correct location
  • not desirable as it is not opened in my layout
• thereafter it will open the document in my layout in Verbum
• With Logos open, the document will still open in Verbum.
• When Verbum is closed, the link will activate Logos without opening the document
• When Verbum is re-opened the link will still activate Logos without opening the document
• When Logos is closed the link will open the document in Verbum!
• When Logos is re-opened the link will still open the document in Verbum!

So when the precedent is set, the link will open the document in Verbum 39 beta 3 (not Logos 38.1).

Nick Mueller

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1351884#Comment_1351884

Thanks for the info. It seems like this is an issue not so much with Firefox, but rather with side-by-side installs of Logos and Verbum. Unfortunately side-by-side install support is out of scope for the design of this feature, and we are not able to further investigation bug reports for this scenario.

We have long recommended installing betas on a dedicated testing machine. We do not recommend nor support installing Logos and Verbum under the same Windows user account.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/8883/important-beta-testing-information-warnings

Dave Hooton

@Nick Mueller

Thanks for the info. It seems like this is an issue not so much with Firefox, but rather with side-by-side installs of Logos and Verbum. Unfortunately side-by-side install support is out of scope for the design of this feature, and we are not able to further investigation bug reports for this scenario.

I can accept that, but I believe this is incorrect:

We have long recommended installing betas on a dedicated testing machine. We do not recommend nor support installing Logos and Verbum under the same Windows user account.

You reference a "Beta Testing Information/Warnings" article from 2010 that talks about Logos 4 when the current article is from December 2024 (the current beta release announcements reference an article from August 2012 from Home > Deleted Posts!).

The relevant Warning is "A Logos beta release cannot be installed side-by-side with another version of Logos" but Verbum is designed to be installed side-by-side with Logos, and I have been running the Verbum beta with a Logos stable release for several years.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Logos 39 is released to stable.

Jeffry A Spain

Confirmation that the registry hack fixes Logos ref.ly links in Word and Excel for Microsoft 365 v2411 16.0.18227.20082 on Windows 11 24H2 26100.2894. OneNote works properly without the registry change.

Dave Hooton

@Nick Mueller

@Dave Hooton

The relevant Warning is "A Logos beta release cannot be installed side-by-side with another version of Logos" but Verbum is designed to be installed side-by-side with Logos, and I have been running the Verbum beta with a Logos stable release for several years.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Logos 39 is released to stable.

I am happy that Logos 39 is now preferred to Verbum 39.