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MSOutlook.info " !

Setting Skype, Skype for

Business, Teams, Lync or
Cisco Jabber as the default IM
client for Outlook

I personally use Skype as my default

IM client and that also integrated
with Outlook at home. At work, we
use Skype for Business and there
Outlook integrates with Skype for
Business.

I recently upgraded my home

computer to O!ce 2016 via our
company’s O!ce 365 licensing and
now Skype no longer integrates with
Outlook 2016. When I log on with
Skype for Business at home, I found
out that it now integrates with
Outlook instead.

Do I need the Home or Personal

edition of O!ce 2016 for integration
with Skype or can I somehow set
which IM client should integrate with
Outlook?

Both Skype and Skype for

Business (previously known
as Lync), Microsoft Teams as
well as Cisco Jabber can
integrate with the IM
functionality available in Outlook. This
means that you can see people's Skype,
Teams or Jabber availability, reply to an
email via an IM or directly start a call or
chat all from within Outlook.

When you are using Skype or Jabber and

then install an O!ce edition that includes
Skype for Business, Skype for Business is
set as the default IM client in Windows.
Similarly, when you are using Skype for
Business and then also install Skype or
Jabber afterwards, it will set Skype or
Jabber as the default. When you install
Teams, it (currently) doesn’t set itself as
the default IM client.

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It would have been nice if there was an
easy way to select your IM client for
Outlook straight from within Outlook or
the IM client itself. Sadly, this is not the
case, except for Teams, but you can still
set it directly via the Registry.

IM Providers Registry key

The Registry key which
stores which IM client can
integrate with Outlook is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IM Provid
ers

Below this key, you'll "nd several sub keys

which represent the IM clients that you
have installed on your system (and
registered themselves as such).

In the IM Providers key, you'll see a

value called DefaultIMApp . This value
should correspond to one of the sub keys.
When you change the value of
DefaultIMApp , restart Outlook and your
new default IM application and Outlook
should now use that as the application for
IM integration.

When you want to use Skype for Business

as the default, the DefaultIMApp value
should be set to Lync as that was the
previous name of Skype for Business and
that name is still being used in several
places for backwards compatibility.

If you don’t want to modify the Registry

yourself, you can download the zip-"le
below. Within it, you’ll "nd ready made
reg-"les to set Skype, Skype for Business
(Lync), Communicator or Cisco Jabber as
the default IM application. Simply double
click the correct reg-"le to automatically
set the value.

When you want to use Teams as the

default IM client, you can do that directly
from within Teams itself. For instructions,
see the Microsoft Teams section below.

Download: defaultimclient.zip

Various IM clients can integrate with

Outlook but choosing a default requires a
Registry "x.

Note: Changing the default IM provider

also a#ects the other O!ce applications of
course. For instance, when you use the
Contact Card in Backstage or the comment
section in Word.

Microsoft Teams
Teams allows you to set
itself as the default IM client
directly from within its
Settings dialog.

Click on your Avatar or initials in the

top-right corner-> Settings-> section:
General-> enable: Register Teams as
the chat app for O!ce (requires
restarting O!ce applications)

Registering Teams as the default chat app

in Outlook and other O!ce applications.

Note: As expected, this will set the

DefaultIMApp Registry value to Teams .
The nice thing about this, is that when you
don’t like it to be the default anymore,
deselecting this option will set your
previous chat app as the default again
thanks to the PreviousDefaultIMApp
value.

Supported IM clients
Please realize that you can't
simply pick any IM client and
expect its integration to
work in Outlook or other
O!ce applications. If it
doesn't o#er any O!ce integration
features, setting this key to that
application will disable the Reply with IM,
chat, call and on-line availability functions
in Outlook.

Amongst the supported IM clients are:

Skype, Skype for Business, Lync, O!ce
Communicator 2007 R2 and Cisco Jabber.
The level of integration depends on a
combination of the IM client being used
and the version of Outlook.

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Note: Windows Messenger got
discontinued so setting MSN Messenger as
the default is no longer supported.

Last modi"ed: February 7, 2019

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