Systems and methods are disclosed herein for opening files via local applications. A first application on a local device receives a request to open a document specified by a user via a user interface associated with the first application, the document having a document identifier and associated with a first file stored on a server, the request comprising the document identifier and a user identifier. The first application forwards the request to open the document associated with the first file to a second application on the local device, and receives, from the second application, a list comprising one or more document processing applications that are on the local device and are capable of opening a second file that is stored on the local device and has the same document identifier as the document specified by the user, the second file being a local copy of the first file. The first application selects one of the document processing applications from the list, and causes a selected processing application to open the second file.