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.