Microsoft Previews Major Improvements Coming to Edge

Microsoft Previews Major Improvements Coming to Edge

Back in April, I outlined the many ways in which Microsoft Edge still came up short against its web browser competition. But in the most recent Windows 10 Insider Preview build, Microsoft has provided an early peek at improvements it will bring to Edge in the Fall Creators Update. Has the software giant finally closed the gap?

Not quite: There are still some important features missing from Edge, sorry. But I’m happy to see that Microsoft is finally addressing some of my big complaints.

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You should check out Edge of 17(03): Microsoft’s Web Browser is Still Lacking for a more complete list of my issues with Edge. But here’s what Microsoft is fixing for the Fall Creators Update:

Pinned web apps in the taskbar

Internet Explorer and Chrome can pin shortcuts to web apps (really, any websites) to the Windows taskbar so that you can access them as if they were native apps. But Edge, inexplicably, has never offered this capability.

The good news: This feature is finally coming to Windows 10 in the Fall Creators Update. Now, you can pin any webpage to the taskbar from Microsoft Edge: Just navigate to the page in question and then select Settings and More (“…”) > “Pin this page to the taskbar.”

The bad news: When you open up a pinned web page, it just opens in a normal Edge web browser window, which includes the full browser UI (“chrome”) and displays any pinned tabs too. With Chrome, you have the option to create pinned sites that open in chromeless windows that more closely resemble native applications.

F11 full-screen mode

While Microsoft Edge actually does already provide a way to access a real full-screen mode, it’s so well-hidden and undocumented that most users don’t even know about it. (To access this mode, type SHIFT + WINKEY + ENTER.)

But with the Fall Creators Update, Microsoft will finally do what it should have done all along, and let users toggle this full-screen mode by typing F11. You know. Like every other web browser on earth.

You can also access this display mode from the Settings and More menu.

E-book annotation

As you probably know, Microsoft added support for E-PUB files to Edge, along with a new Windows Store-based e-book platform, in the Windows 10 Creators Update. In the Fall Creators Update, this functionality will be improved with the ability to annotate E-PUB files (including purchased e-books) directly in the browser. You’ll be able to highlight text in four colors, underline, and add comments.

PDF improvements

Today, you can view and annotate PDF files with Microsoft Edge. In the Fall Creators Update, you can access more highlight colors. And the “Ask Cortana” feature is now available in Edge, too. That means that you can now select text in a PDF, right-click, and select “Ask Cortana” to learn more about the selected term.

Final thoughts

These are obviously some much-needed updates, especially taskbar pinning and the F11 full-screen toggle. But Edge is still so lacking in so many ways. I can only hope that further improvements are coming for the Fall Creators Update.

 

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  • Bdsrev

    09 June, 2017 - 8:55 pm

    <p>I hope they don't "de-prioritize" Edge, it really is much better than Chrome in some important ways. If they keep trying hard, it could be the best Windows browser in a year or 2.</p>

    • BoItmanLives

      10 June, 2017 - 2:22 am

      <blockquote><a href="#124263"><em>In reply to Bdsrev:</em></a></blockquote><p>Name a single way edge is better than chrome. </p>

      • Demileto

        10 June, 2017 - 9:44 am

        <blockquote><a href="#124310"><em>In reply to BoItmanLives:</em></a></blockquote><p>Battery life, for one.</p>

        • Waethorn

          10 June, 2017 - 9:38 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#124360"><em>In reply to Demileto:</em></a></blockquote><p>Chrome doesn't hurt Chromebook battery life none.</p>

      • Locust Infested Orchard Inc.

        11 June, 2017 - 12:36 am

        <blockquote><a href="#124310"><em>In reply to BoItmanLives:</em></a></blockquote><p>Microsoft's latest browser incarnation easily has the Edge over Google Chrome.</p>

    • Jack Smith

      11 June, 2017 - 7:44 am

      <blockquote><a href="#124263"><em>In reply to Bdsrev:</em></a></blockquote><p>MS runs a business and really does not make a ton of sense to invest a lot in their browser as I would think MS knows they are not getting the Chrome people back.</p><p><br></p><p>See my younger one using Chrome and ask why? He tells me that is what you do. Young people know the "canonical" browser is Chrome and that is not going to change.</p><p><br></p><p>Then when you add on they all use Chrome all day long at school as in the US K12 is all Chrome. It is just silly for MS to invest money into something that is a lost cause for them. Invest into something new that nobody thought of.</p><p><br></p><p>The worse is trying to do the "me-too" thing and failing each time. Look at CNTK has 1/5 the stars on GitHub as TF. But TF is gaining 5x each day.</p>

  • david.thunderbird

    09 June, 2017 - 10:13 pm

    <p>Nah, I'm feelin' edged out.</p>

  • SRLRacing

    09 June, 2017 - 10:23 pm

    <p>I pretty much have always had to run all the major browsers and still do for web app compatibility reasons. In a given day I can hit Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer multiple times. I have found that I use Edge most the time but I'm not a major plugin user like I think Paul is and the ones I do use have all made it to Edge. </p>

  • dcdevito

    09 June, 2017 - 11:21 pm

    <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"But Chrome, inexplicably, has never offered this capability"</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I think you meant Edge :)</span></p>

  • harmjr

    Premium Member
    09 June, 2017 - 11:24 pm

    <p>Will this make it into the final version??? </p>

  • BoItmanLives

    10 June, 2017 - 12:15 am

    <p>Being limited to windows 10 is the first thing they need to correct. So pointless.</p><p>Needs to expand to windows 7, 8.1, Linux, MacOS, etc or Chrome wins by default.</p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      10 June, 2017 - 3:33 pm

      <p><a href="#124291"><em>In reply to BoItmanLives:</em></a></p><p>Windows owns desktop PCs, so Linux and macOS versions of Edge wouldn't add many users. OTOH, mobile Edge for Android and iOS could add tens of millions of users.</p>

      • PeteB

        11 June, 2017 - 4:11 am

        <blockquote><a href="#124410"><em>In reply to hrlngrv:</em></a></blockquote><p>Windows owns desktop, but Windows 10 does not – it'll remain stuck at 25%. So Edge not being on Windows 7 which has 50% of the market – and continues to grow – is a colossal blunder. </p><p>Chrome, OTOH, works on Windows 7 beautifully. Microsoft actually discriminates against it's own operating systems.</p>

        • hrlngrv

          Premium Member
          11 June, 2017 - 4:59 pm

          <p><a href="#124577"><em>In reply to PeteB:</em></a></p><p>Do you recall GWX? MSFT would like nothing better than the kill off all older versions of Windows. Unfortunately for MSFT, Edge isn't as much of an inducement to move to Windows 10 as MSFT would have liked.</p>

  • SherlockHolmes

    Premium Member
    10 June, 2017 - 12:17 am

    <p>Taskbar pinning is much needed? By whom? I use PCs over 20 years now and never had the need fo pinning a website to the taskbar. I have the feeling that MSFT doesnt know what they would like Edge to be.</p>

    • prettyconfusd

      10 June, 2017 - 8:14 am

      <blockquote><a href="#124292"><em>In reply to SherlockHolmes:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I remember pinning a few sites back when they launched the feature – and built jump lists etc. into the sites I was making around that time, and then doing the same with live tiles and RSS feeds for Windows 8.1. But yikes, I don't think I've ever used them – And for me there's even less reason to since there are official apps for Windows 10 for most of the things I use. </p><p><br></p><p>Still, Edge needs to feature match Opera, Firefox, Chrome, *and* mobile Safari before it will be seen as a viable option for many people – and right now it doesn't.</p><p><br></p><p>I like Edge, it's simple, fast, and getting better every update. But I still need to jump into Opera for some stuff (online banking, for example, just won't load properly in Edge – and I know that's the problem with the people who made the site, not Edge – but it's still a problem that Edge ultimately has to fix).</p>

      • SherlockHolmes

        Premium Member
        10 June, 2017 - 9:09 am

        <blockquote><a href="#124326"><em>In reply to prettyconfusd:</em></a></blockquote><p>Edge is so behind other browsers it needs to focus on more important features then pinned websites. </p>

  • ChristopherCollins

    Premium Member
    10 June, 2017 - 12:26 am

    <p>Have they fixed casting media to your device from Edge (ie, XBox One)? They broke it on Creator's and I don't know that they realize many people were using Edge for that feature only.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

  • mrdrwest

    10 June, 2017 - 12:32 am

    <p>Did they fix the "Cast media to device" feature? Edge 1703 doesn't see the XB1. MS confirmed the bug.</p>

    • ChristopherCollins

      Premium Member
      10 June, 2017 - 1:28 am

      <blockquote><a href="#124298"><em>In reply to mrdrwest:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p><em>We must have posted at almost the same time… NO, still not fixed. I reverted again.</em></p><p><br></p>

  • Nyghtfall

    10 June, 2017 - 4:10 am

    <p>Frankly, I don't see any incarnation of Explorer or "Edge" ever retaking the market outside of businesses or Grandma's house until MS finally turns it into an open-source app so people who know what they're doing – and care – can turn it into something that can actually compete with the likes of Chrome and Firefox. I haven't used an MS browser since Firefox was released in 2002, and I've never seen a compelling reason to try one again.</p>

  • frand771

    10 June, 2017 - 5:13 am

    <p>I really tried to give edge browser a chance but i can't because sometimes it's laggy. I mean sometimes just opening a new blank tab is frustrating, it takes 1-2 seconds. Chrome in the same computer is instant. Some webpages can freeze, and my lastpass extension doesn't work anymore. Microsoft should implement a way to totally reset Edge but i didn't find the way to do that. If someone knows how to do that please tell me. For the moment i'm an happy chrome user, because it's incredibly fast and IT JUST WORKS.</p>

    • SvenJ

      10 June, 2017 - 4:04 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#124317"><em>In reply to frand771:</em></a> In settings, in the apps section, each application has an entry. Edge is Microsoft Edge, in the Ms. select it and select advanced. There are repair and reset options there. No guarantees.;)</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • mattbg

    Premium Member
    10 June, 2017 - 6:10 am

    <p>I could have sworn the "pin to taskbar" feature was supposed to come in the current Creators Update :)</p><p><br></p><p>Does this mean we'll be able to have a "Pinned Sites" section in the context menu of the Edge taskbar icon like Chrome, IE, and others have? Or just pin one icon per site directly to the taskbar?</p>

  • polymath

    10 June, 2017 - 6:15 am

    <p>if the… "a future" is like Chromebooks,, ie, a browser, webasm &amp; web hardware then we will see argumentation of the browser and links with the Assistant. I quite like the ePub with its Speak out loud, quite useful. </p><p><br></p><p>If BRIDGED apps don't take off then we are back to the world wide web and Microsoft Edge </p>

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    10 June, 2017 - 8:16 am

    <p>Try using edge without Cortana and experience the real hell that is this browser. </p>

  • prettyconfusd

    10 June, 2017 - 8:16 am

    <p>Re: full screen mode. I wonder how this will work in tablet mode when there's no physical keyboard to F11. I'd hope we'll see a return to the swipe in menu mode from metro IE11 to make it more touch and pen friendly.</p>

    • RedSign

      10 June, 2017 - 8:30 am

      <blockquote><a href="#124328"><em>In reply to prettyconfusd:</em></a></blockquote><p>There is a clickable icon in the browser menu (those with the three dots) that can be used for that in tablet mode. </p>

      • prettyconfusd

        10 June, 2017 - 2:49 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#124330"><em>In reply to RedSign:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>That's how we can get into full screen mode sure, but once that menu has vanished, how do you bring it back using only touch?</p><p><br></p><p>Unless they expect you to swipe the taskbar into view, open the touch keyboard, switch to the full layout touch keyboard, and *then* tap F11 just to switch tabs or view favourites?</p>

        • LemonJoose

          13 June, 2017 - 2:57 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#124398"><em>In reply to prettyconfusd:</em></a></blockquote><p>I just tried full screen view in Edge in tablet mode using the&nbsp;full onscreen keyboard and&nbsp;Winkey + Shift + Enter.&nbsp; It's easy to&nbsp;go back to&nbsp;normal view.&nbsp; Just swipe the title bar down into view at the top and tap the Restore View button (diagonal&nbsp;opposing arrows)&nbsp;in the top right next to the Close button (x).&nbsp; </p>

  • mejason83

    Premium Member
    10 June, 2017 - 10:07 am

    <p>I don't see how they can ever compete when Edge updates happen twice per yr. They need to somehow decouple from the Win10 releases and iterate faster.. Way faster. </p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      10 June, 2017 - 3:25 pm

      <p><a href="#124361"><em>In reply to mejason83:</em></a></p><p>It may be an implicit admission MSFT, as an organization, is incapable of rapid development.</p>

  • doubledeej

    10 June, 2017 - 10:59 am

    <p>There's one feature lacking from Edge that drives me nuts every time I try to use it… being able to search for highlighted text. The Ask Cortana feature just isn't the same.</p>

  • Ravi Tx

    10 June, 2017 - 11:04 am

    <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">But Chrome, inexplicably, has never offered this capability.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Typo: you mean Edge</span></p>

  • Otto Gunter

    10 June, 2017 - 11:31 am

    <p>My #1 request is to save a bookmark (to the desktop, for instance) as a .url file, something IE has had for ever. Hopefully that ability will come soon too.</p>

  • rlcronin

    10 June, 2017 - 1:42 pm

    <p>I don't get it. I'm perfectly happy with Chrome. Why would I switch to Edge? I did try it early on, but it was lacking so much that it was laughable. First impressions count. </p>

    • ChristopherCollins

      Premium Member
      10 June, 2017 - 3:15 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#124391"><em>In reply to rlcronin:</em></a></blockquote><p>You are so correct. I have stated many time that I think MS should have held onto IE until they had a new browser with feature parity… I only use Edge to cast things to my XBox 1 now and as luck would have it, they broke that on Creator's Update (from Edge).</p><p><br></p><p>There is only one first impression. They would be better off finishing Edge, then renaming it. Edge = Intel Atom to me. </p><p><br></p><p>From the beginning, I have thought they should have make a WebKit browser. Without cross platform syncing, you have nothing. People are not going to use different browsers all the way around. At the very least, they could have made a mobile 'Edge' on WebKit for syncing alone.</p><p><br></p><p>Edge (to me) is Microsoft's biggest blunder since the Longhorn/Vista disaster story.</p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      10 June, 2017 - 3:46 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#124391"><em>In reply to rlcronin:</em></a></blockquote><p>Because Google needs competition in the browser space. Also remember that you can't use Chrome in Windows S. With how much hostility google has for Microsoft I doubt we'll ever see Chrome as a Store App unless Windows S is really successful and Google is dragged kicking and screaming.</p>

      • MutualCore

        11 June, 2017 - 2:54 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#124414"><em>In reply to lvthunder:</em></a></blockquote><p>Windows S – another 'dead on arrival' OS from Microsoft like Windows RT. Who cares what it runs when literally nobody will use it?</p>

      • rlcronin

        11 June, 2017 - 10:05 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#124414"><em>In reply to lvthunder:</em></a></blockquote><p>While it may be true that G needs competition, I'm not going to force myself to use Edge to help MS. I have stuff to do. If Edge can help me do that easier, faster and better I'll switch in a heartbeat. As for Windows S, I'm just not interested.</p>

  • Waethorn

    10 June, 2017 - 1:53 pm

    <p>Why is it that Microsoft is doing away with a lot of drag-and-drop functionality lately? Is this an API restriction, or are they just not bothering in their current apps?</p><p><br></p><p>Why can't you drag-and-drop a website icon or tab to the taskbar to create the icon? IE used to allow you to do this.</p><p><br></p><p>There's lots of places where drag-and-drop functionality like this would be the expected natural interaction method in Windows, but it seems lazy not to include it, and the number of times I expected it to be there, they omitted it.</p><p><br></p><p>Apple even does this sort-of-properly with how you get application packages as a single icon the represents numerous files, and you drag-and-drop that icon into your Apps icon on OS X. To remove it, you drag and drop the icon to the trash bin, and the OS takes care of everything.</p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I've always said that deployment tools would benefit from this. Wouldn't it be so much easier for OEM's to just take an ISO file, represented by an icon, drop some driver packages onto it, and maybe some preloaded apps, and BOOM, Windows does all the work to make a new installation image for you. That is what I was asking for, for years. And yet what I get is the OEM Express Deployment Tool that is anything but. They even had an awesome tool for Windows 10 when it was released that I used in place of the EDT, and then they pulled it and made newer builds incompatible with it, and reverted back to the old WinSIM program which doesn't support multi-arch image creation.</span></p>

    • PeteB

      11 June, 2017 - 4:07 am

      <blockquote><a href="#124393"><em>In reply to Waethorn:</em></a></blockquote><p>No drag and drop because at its core it's a crappy metro mobile app.</p>

      • Praveen M

        14 June, 2017 - 10:12 am

        <blockquote><a href="#124575"><em>In reply to PeteB:</em></a></blockquote><p>UWP apps CAN drag and drop. MS is simply lazy</p>

  • abvogel

    10 June, 2017 - 2:35 pm

    <p>My #1 thing missing is being able to turn a pop up into a tab. I use Dynamics CRM for work, and it will often have window popups with no navigation and no ability to open the link in a new tab. In Chrome it's great – right click, Show as Tab, and then I can drop it back in my main window. Edge and IE can't do this. When this feature doesn't exist, it's very noticeable as you end up having a lot of floating windows with no menu and no ability to group together.</p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      10 June, 2017 - 3:03 pm

      <p><a href="#124397"><em>In reply to abvogel:</em></a></p><blockquote><em>. . . </em>no ability to group together.</blockquote><p>Picky: that's one thing workspaces provide, a way to group wayward windows.</p>

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    10 June, 2017 - 3:50 pm

    <p>Gotta wonder whether all the added PDF functionality is the reason there's so little development of other features. For me, this is truly pointless because I have no intention of using anything other than desktop Foxit Reader because that has consistently done the best job of selecting tabular text to copy from PDF and paste into Excel, something I need to do several times a month given how I usually receive customer data. So much for work.</p><p>At home, I'm odd and try to keep up on those few bits of NSF research I understand. I use Okular under Linux because it's the only document viewer I've come across which can handle XPS, PDF, PS and DVI and most image file formats.</p>

  • SvenJ

    10 June, 2017 - 4:10 pm

    <p>I have no generic issue with Edge, but have come across specific ones. Had to reset a password the other day, and was sent to a site via e-mail to do it. Naturally the site opened in Edge. There was a nice interface which defined the password requirements, length, special characters, etc. As you typed in your new PW, it checked of the requirements you had met, Pretty useful except it didn't work in Edge. Never accepted my new PW, because it couldn't validate the requirements. Pasted the link into IE and it worked fine. Have had other such, this doesn't work, experiences. </p><p>I understand the problem is largely on the website, using 'features' that are likely not supported, yet or on purpose for security, but sometimes that is not usable. Not supporting a flash based something is usually an 'oh well, didn't need to see that'. Not being able to reset a PW would have been exceptionally annoying.</p>

  • Bats

    10 June, 2017 - 4:40 pm

    <p>I have said this before and I'll say it again (and I know I a right): If the Edge browser is not on Android or iOS, the browser has no chance whatsoever. Even if they browser version is a 1:1 duplicate, in terms of features with Chrome, it's going to work.</p>

  • Tsang Man Fai

    10 June, 2017 - 10:10 pm

    <p>Oh… I didn't know the shift+winkey+enter full screen function!&nbsp; I thought there has been no such function at all for two years.</p><p><br></p><p>I wonder why they still haven't put this function in the "…" menu.&nbsp; 2 years… how come it takes 2 years to add a tiny UI element???</p>

  • Piras

    11 June, 2017 - 6:01 am

    <p>How about fixing the Favorites syncing situation. This has become a joke, close to two years after launch, it still doesn't work properly.</p>

    • MutualCore

      11 June, 2017 - 2:47 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#124589"><em>In reply to Piras:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Or a Favorites manager in a separate window that allows me to easily delete batches of folders or re-arrange as I want easily like in Chrome/Firefox? I swear Microsoft keeps adding fluff nobody wants and ignores the core features that everyone needs.</p>

      • Siv

        12 June, 2017 - 12:39 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#124650"><em>In reply to MutualCore:</em></a></blockquote><p>Correct, they still haven't added a right-click "refresh" option another thing all other major browsers do. I know it's stupid because you can press CTRL + R but my muscle memory from IE and Firefox has left me always right-clicking and it's so f@cking annoying I just won't use Edge until they fix that!</p>

  • Jack Smith

    11 June, 2017 - 7:38 am

    <p>Why? That ship has sailed and MS is not going to get people to switch back from Chrome, IMO. </p>

  • Narg

    11 June, 2017 - 9:49 am

    <p>Only the pinned web apps appeals to me. The others in this list don't mean a bit to me.</p>

  • MutualCore

    11 June, 2017 - 2:56 pm

    <p>I wonder when Microsoft will fix the delay in closing Edge when you Alt-F4 or hit the X button. It usually can take anywhere from 2-10 seconds before it closes. Chrome closes in a second every time.</p>

  • Jules Wombat

    12 June, 2017 - 7:14 am

    <p>We'll for many of us, since CU Edge simply Crashes every time its started. See user Forums. </p><p>Perhaps Microsoft will consider fixing Edge crashes first. Deteriorating QA since Dona took over W10 Release cycles has damaged W10 reputation. </p>

  • hometoy

    12 June, 2017 - 9:15 am

    <p>Glad to hear Edge is getting improvements. It is far behind Chrome and Firefox, but what it does have is that it comes up quickly. I hope these improvements does not come at the expense of opening up speed.</p><p><br></p><p>I use Edge for things like links in Email, Twitter, etc. but when I need to get work done on the web, I go to Chrome.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

  • boots

    12 June, 2017 - 7:06 pm

    <p>"<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Internet Explorer and Chrome can pin shortcuts to web apps (really, any websites) to the Windows taskbar"</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Can someone explain how to add Chrome web apps to the Taskbar, I have not been able to work out how to do this. If I drag a link from Chrome to the Taskbar it just gets added to Internet Explorer's right click menu.</span></p>

  • Ekim

    Premium Member
    12 June, 2017 - 8:43 pm

    <p>The only "feature" they should be working on is cross-platform like the rest of their apps. Until I can get Edge from the Play Store on my Android phone, I will never use it as my daily driver. </p>

  • BMcDonald

    13 June, 2017 - 1:57 pm

    <p>Are there any improvements in the area of leaving my bloody PDF file extensions alone – so I can use Adobe Reader as as lot of other normal folks would do?</p><p><br></p><p>Nothing irritates me more that this useless browser constantly hacking and re-hacking my ability to use what I want to use to open and view PDFs.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

  • red.radar

    Premium Member
    13 June, 2017 - 10:07 pm

    <p>How about edge for iOS / Android. If for no other reason I get bookmark syncing. </p>

  • Matt Lohr

    14 June, 2017 - 11:31 am

    <p>I think of Edge as the Chrome bootloader.</p>

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