Suppose someone sends you a message with an URL:
When clicking that URL it'll spin up a Chrome window or tab with that URL. However, Chrome is not my favorite browser on this PC. I want to make Hangouts open links in my favorite browser by default.
I've tried gone breadth-first through the settings of a contact, as well as the Hangouts general settings, but haven't found an option for this. I've searched with Google but found no relevant results, and I've searched WebApps.SE finding zero relevant results as well.
Workarounds I've found are all suboptimal. Using Hangouts from your another browser (via Gmail) makes links open in that browser, but Hangouts in your browser is not a nice experience. Obviously there's copy-pasting the URL into your favorite browser, but that also requires several tedious manual actions.
My setup is Windows 8.1 with latest updates. I have installed Chrome (latest), Firefox (latest), and IE 11. The latter is set as my favorite browser. The Hangouts app is one I've installed quite some time ago at first seems like a separate app, because it's a separate set of windows, and because of how it's shown in the taskbar:
However I can't seem to find the application in the "Programs and Features" settings screen of Windows. It does show up as an extension for Google Chrome, which does kind of suggest that what I want is not possible.
Or is it?
Best Answer
What you have installed is the Chrome extension of the Hangouts App. It is a standalone window/app but it runs within the Chrome browser, therefore it opens everything in Chrome, just like a detached tab.
You should try installing the plugin.