Disable Chrome to ask for confirmation to open external application everytime

Question

We have configured chrome to open tel: links with Skype. One computer it does not open straight Skype after clicking a tel-link, but asks if skype should be opened (in a popup).

I tried to reset Chrome and tried to change the handler to another software to test if the problem maybe is with Skype. But it seems Chrome is generally asking for confirmation before opening an external application.

How can we configure Chrome to not ask for confirmation over and over? This is on Windows 10.

Answer 1

This can now be done with Chrome 79+. Thanks to the Reddit link from @Kropotoff's earlier answer, you can restore the "Always open these types of links in the associated app" option by updating your system settings.

For Windows:

Apply the "External​Protocol​Dialog​Show​Always​Open​Checkbox" registry policy

Or edit the registry and add a REG_DWORD registry entry to:

Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\ExternalProtocolDialogShowAlwaysOpenCheckbox

For macOS:

defaults write com.google.Chrome ExternalProtocolDialogShowAlwaysOpenCheckbox -bool true

At least on Mac, it seems you need to quit and restart Chrome before the option becomes available.

Another Method

As an alternative to enabling the checkbox, then launching Chrome to select the checkbox, and ensuring it is persisted in the Chrome profile, it also appears to be possible to whitelist specific protocol handler URIs via the command line. This is helpful for Selenium and other automation, meaning that the URIs open without user intervention and you don't need to pre-configure the browser.

Assuming that your protocol handlers are myprotocol1://whatever and myprotocol2://whatever, you can do this on Mac. If you go this route, it doesn't look like you need to bother with the checkbox setting above.

defaults write com.google.Chrome URLWhitelist -array myprotocol1://* myprotocol2://*

I have not tried this on Windows, but it looks like there is guidance on the enterprise policy page for URLWhitelist.

Answer 2

Simple fix for Windows - make a .reg file with the following inside it and run it:

(For Chrome and chromium Edge)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome]
"ExternalProtocolDialogShowAlwaysOpenCheckbox"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge]
"ExternalProtocolDialogShowAlwaysOpenCheckbox"=dword:00000001

Answer 3

I'm having the same issue different OS. Did Google release a chrome update that removed the "don't ask again" checkbox?

EDIT: my research is not encouraging: https://www.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/d3v4yr/dont_ask_again_checkbox_on_popups_not_available/

Seem like there was indeed an update that removed this feature.

-.-

Answer 4

Found this while trying to fix the same sort of issue. My new win10 install with current chrome would ask if chrome could open utorrent, similar to my work machine asking to open citrix launcher every time I start a virtual machine.

What worked for me:

Chrome settings - Site settings - Handlers - Do not allow any site to handle protocols - DISABLED

Then when I hit a magnet link, the same confirmation box opens but has a checkbox to always remember this choice. Subsequent magnet links now open directly into utorrent with no notification. I assume the tel: uri would behave the same when selecting the app of your choice. Let us know!

Answer 5

I see this is old, & I have no way to test, but nobody mentioined settting the tel: protocol via Settings>Apps>Default apps>(tiny link)Choose default apps by protocol:

Answer 6

If you don't know how to get it done. I've created a simple application to make it work seamlessly for both mac and pc. https://www.sendwhatsappmsg.com/open-whatsapp-desktop