Call for help: No longer able to open meeting invitations in app

[mbert]

It looks like Microsoft have changed their teams.microsoft.com site's behaviour: while before, when opening a meeting invitation in a browser one would get prompted to either open in the browser or in the app, the site now immediately redirects into the teams webapp in the browser, no way to open the meeting in the app.

The above screenshot shows what I can see for a few milliseconds before the redirect takes place (and nothing on the right side is linked to anything). The native dialogue asking me which app I want to open the link with no longer appears.

All my Linux-using colleagues have had the same problem since this morning.

This is of course not a problem of teams-for-linux, but since MS may not be willing to change this (annoying) behaviour, I'd like to ask around whether anyone has found a workaround for this?

[edit] This behaviour is triggered by a "Linux" in the user agent.

[mbert]

I have found a workaround that does the job for now:

Extension User-Agent Switcher for Chrome (I am using a Chromium-based browser).
It allows configuring User-Agent-Spoofing by site. I have set up Firefox 33 for Windows whenever I open teams.microsoft.com, after that I got my "open" dialogue back.

[scristofaro]

I have found a workaround that does the job for now:

Extension User-Agent Switcher for Chrome (I am using a Chromium-based browser). It allows configuring User-Agent-Spoofing by site. I have set up Firefox 33 for Windows whenever I open teams.microsoft.com, after that I got my "open" dialogue back.

That's a workaround, but i think it's should better force teams-for-linux to open teams link directly in app, if possible.

[EnricoDamini]

Thanks @mbert same issue for me but spoffing user agent not work

[norman-knott]

Experiencing the same Problem when using Firefox in Ubuntu. But the not usable choice screen looks different to me.

Before, when it worked to open a meeting in the teams-for-linux app, it looked like the screen in the issue description.

[mirenradia]

A temporary workaround would be the ability to paste a meeting link somewhere in this app that will then be navigated to.

[mbert]

A temporary workaround would be the ability to paste a meeting link somewhere in this app that will then be navigated to.

I second that. However I am not sure whether this is easily technically possible, because the application is merely a web wrapper.

[IsmaelMartinez]

It use to work pasting it on a chat and clicking. See if you can call teams-for-linux with the --open-url config option (it might have a different name, check the config options). Ms strikes again!!

[IsmaelMartinez]

There is some code that use to "click" the open in browser option a while back. If someone finds that selector we can try to fix that again... But ms will change it again soon. (I am sure)

[munen]

We had the same issue with Teams. Changing the UA did not help. However, we found an easy way to get teams working, again. Here’s how we did it: https://200ok.ch/posts/2023-02-07_make_teams_work_again.html

[norman-knott]

@munen For teams-for-linux, at my PC, this alias simply tries to open the app if it is not already open. If it is already open, sometimes it reloads the content. But unfortunately it does not open the call.
Are you using the original MS Teams Desktop client?

[munen]

Are you using the original MS Teams Desktop client?

No. That wonderful piece of software never worked for me. I’m using Teams from this Repo.

For teams-for-linux, at my PC, this alias simply tries to open the app if it is not already open.

Teams did that to me as well some months ago. I was not able to join calls, because links didn’t open any calls. It does work for me in the latest version, though.

[mbert]

It does not work here either. I have tried to track things down. Even if I do an 'xdg-open msteams://....' link from the console, my teams-for-linux window gets the focus, but it does not open the meeting link.

[munen]

Opening Teams via the regular link stopped working for both me and @branch14 from the very same meeting and that the documented fix in the blog post works for both of us.

Sorry to hear that it doesn’t work for everyone. Maybe you have better luck in switching all meetings to software that actually works and doesn’t Bork on trivial stuff like opening links. Good luck to everyone🙏🏻

Having said so, a huge thank to to the maintainers of this repository to making Teams at least available on Linux🙇‍♂️

[branch14]

@mbert No matter how you call it (xdg-open, teams, teams-for-linux, or the proposed alias) you have to make sure the URL is quoted. Because the URL contains characters like & that will be interpreted by your shell if unquoted.

xdg-open "msteams:/..."

[mbert]

@mbert No matter how you call it (xdg-open, teams, teams-for-linux, or the proposed alias) you have to make sure the URL is quoted. Because the contains characters like & that will be interpreted by your shell if unquoted.

xdg-open "msteams:/..."

Sure, I did so. But it simply focuses the teams-for-linux window.

I actually don't need it, because the variant with the spoofed UA is more convenient. I click the link, it opens a tab in the browser, the dialog comes, and I can continue in the app.

[csonuryilmaz]

A temporary workaround would be the ability to paste a meeting link somewhere in this app that will then be navigated to.

Thanks @mirenradia 🤗 it's the only working workaround for me.

[hightowe]

I could not get the bash alias to work for me, that is presented here: https://200ok.ch/posts/2023-02-07_make_teams_work_again.html

And so I wrote this little program that does the same thing, and does work for me:

hightowe@zion ~ $ cat ~/bin/teams4linux
#!/bin/bash

###############################################################
# Quick xdg-open launcher script that was inspired by
# https://200ok.ch/posts/2023-02-07_make_teams_work_again.html
# which I could not get to work on my bash...
#
# Written 2023-Feb-20 by Lester Hightower
###############################################################

# The BASE_URL to replace with msteams:
BASE_URL='https://teams.microsoft.com'

url="$1"

echo "$url" | egrep -q -e "^$BASE_URL"
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "Invalid url vs expected ($BASE_URL): $url"
  exit -1
fi

path=$(echo "$url" | sed -e  "s%^$BASE_URL%%")
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "Failed to find path with sed"
  exit -1
fi

new_url="msteams:$path"

echo -e "RUNNING:\n"xdg-open "'$new_url'"

# Uncomment the next line if you want xdg-open to be run
#xdg-open "$new_url"

Hope it helps someone...

[MortenVinding]

I could not get the bash alias to work for me, that is presented here: https://200ok.ch/posts/2023-02-07_make_teams_work_again.html

It's missing a semicolon :)
Should be:

alias pott='f() { xdg-open ${1/https://teams.microsoft.com/msteams:}; }; f'
instead of:
alias pott='f() { xdg-open ${1/https://teams.microsoft.com/msteams:} }; f'

[hightowe]

@MortenVinding - thanks. However, I still don't get the result that I would expect... Example:

hightowe@zion ~ $ alias pott
bash: alias: pott: not found
hightowe@zion ~ $ alias pott='f() { echo ${1/https://teams.microsoft.com/msteams:}; }; f'
hightowe@zion ~ $ pott https://teams.microsoft.com/l/foo/bar
/teams.microsoft.com/msteams://teams.microsoft.com/l/foo/bar
hightowe@zion ~ $ 

I expect simply: msteams:/l/foo/bar

[MortenVinding]

However, I still don't get the result that I would expect...

sorry somehow the escaping got removed. should have been:
alias pott='f() { xdg-open ${1/https://teams.microsoft.com/msteams:}; }; f'

[hightowe]

@MortenVinding - Looks like the escaping was removed again. To keep it, you must use a code snippet here.

Here is what I think it should be:

alias pott='f() { xdg-open ${1/https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com/msteams:}; }; f'

A test of that using echo worked for me:

hightowe@zion ~ $ alias pott='f() { echo ${1/https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com/msteams:}; }; f'
hightowe@zion ~ $ pott https://teams.microsoft.com/l/foo/bar
msteams:/l/foo/bar

Thanks again.

[MortenVinding]

Looks like the escaping was removed again. To keep it, you must use a code snippet here.

Yes I see. But good you found out anyway.
Your welcome. Let hope we soon get a better solution.

[mirenradia]

Has anyone figured out how to get it to open in a specific (non-default) profile (#690)? I often have meetings with an organization I have a guest account in which is not my main one and thus opened in a separate profile.

[DerXteMensch]

@munen @hightowe How can I use your program or the alias? Just have no idea how to use it. Can it be used automatically and permanent?

[IsmaelMartinez]

I suspect then that the logic that needs tweak is around this area:

https://github.com/IsmaelMartinez/teams-for-linux/blob/develop/app/mainAppWindow/index.js#L156

That should handle the meeting calls and the redirect (in principle, but it might be now broken)

[nxadm]

A temporary workaround would be the ability to paste a meeting link somewhere in this app that will then be navigated to.

That would be rather a solution for me. Less things that possible can break.

[IsmaelMartinez]

The changes from #713 might solve this issue

[IsmaelMartinez]

pre-release in https://github.com/IsmaelMartinez/teams-for-linux/releases/tag/v1.0.56

[nxadm]

@IsmaelMartinez I tried the pre-release, but it does not solve the issue. I ended workarounding it with a Firefox addon (Redirector) with the attached configuration.

[mirenradia]

@IsmaelMartinez I tried the pre-release, but it does not solved. I ended workarounding it with a Firefox addon (Redirector) with the attached configuration.

Thanks for this workaround. IMO, this works better for me than the shell script/function/alias.

It would still be great to be able to redirect it to specific profiles.

[jijojosephk]

Is there a way to bypass the default browser behaviour? or at least change the default browser for certain urls?

[jijojosephk]

Experiencing the same Problem when using Firefox in Ubuntu. But the not usable choice screen looks different to me.

Before, when it worked to open a meeting in the teams-for-linux app, it looked like the screen in the issue description.

I guess this is because website understands that the host is linux and no desktop app for linux so use only web app.

[jijojosephk]

Since app has no solution, I'm closing but will pin this.

[jovandeginste]

Is there a working solution now to this issue? I tried all suggestions, but I still can't join a meeting via link. The teams app "opens" the URL, but does nothing with it...

[DerXteMensch]

The solution from @nxadm using a Firefox-addon works.

[jovandeginste]

The solution from @nxadm using a Firefox-addon works.

I'm using that, but to no avail... My workaround is to open the meeting on my phone, type something in the chat, which then pops up the chat on my desktop, from where I can join the call. That's just a little workaround, I know, but I would appreciate a better way 😉

[jovandeginste]

[zendynar]

A temporary workaround would be the ability to paste a meeting link somewhere in this app that will then be navigated to.

This is what I do, I have a chat with myself pinned partially for that reason.
Also, I suspect most of the problematic meetings are from outlook but for whatever reason aren't registered as 'Teams' meetings (if someone just pasted the link into the invite body). An easy workaround would be to go to Teams "Calendar" tab, double-click to open the meeting and click on the link to join. At least you don't have to leave the app and do copy-paste this way.

[jmergy]

This is working now for me too on Vivaldi (Chrome-based) with the Redirector extension and the above config on Debian 12.1 (Wayland/Gnome) so now I can click on invites with teams.microsoft.com URLs - it kicks to Vivaldi, then to teams-for-linux if I decide. Cool!

[cccaballero]

using @nxadm and @jmergy workaround in Ubuntu (using the .deb install method) it does open the Tems app, but it stays in the main page, is not opening the meet. The generated URI looks ok: msteams:/meet/SOMEDATA?p=SOMEDATA

[ogghi]

This is working now for me too on Vivaldi (Chrome-based) with the Redirector extension and the above config on Debian 12.1 (Wayland/Gnome) so now I can click on invites with teams.microsoft.com URLs - it kicks to Vivaldi, then to teams-for-linux if I decide. Cool!

Wow, this actually WORKS! 👍 💯