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Microsoft unveils final browser improvements to Windows 10 Creators Update

Microsoft unveils final browser improvements to Windows 10 Creators Update

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Windows 10 Cortana Eater

Microsoft is currently finalizing its feature set for the upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update. While the update contains many new changes and features, Microsoft is announcing its final improvements to its Edge browser for the Creators Update today. Like most of the overall Creators Update changes, there aren't any major additions to Microsoft Edge, but all the small tweaks add up.

Visually, the first changes you're bound to notice if you test the update early (or wait until April) are the tweaks to how tabs are managed in the browser. Microsoft has added a new tab management feature that allows you to save and restore sets of tabs, and preview open tabs through a variety of visual thumbnails. This will improve managing vast sets of tabs, but unless you use massive amounts of tabs then it's not going to fundamentally change how you use Microsoft Edge day-to-day.

Microsoft has been slow to add extensions to its Edge browser, but it's gradually expanding what's available. Ebates, Intel TrueKey, Read & Write, Ghostery, and RoboForm have all appeared in the Windows Store recently, and Microsoft now lets extension developers access 30 percent more Windows features than the initial release of Microsoft Edge. We're still waiting to see an easy way for extension developers to submit their extensions to the Store, but Microsoft has been slow in order to keep the quality and performance bar high.

Elsewhere, Microsoft is adding some entirely new features to Microsoft Edge. The first is support for 3D content. Some sites are starting to add virtual reality experiences, so Microsoft has added this 3D support to allow Edge users to view the content without plugins or third-party apps. Ebooks are also arriving in Edge, with the ability to purchase them from the Windows Store and read in the browser. Microsoft is also adding in Wallet support, so participating sites can let Windows 10 users purchase goods using their credit card that's stored within a Microsoft Account.

All of these changes are rolling out with the Windows 10 Creators Update. Microsoft hasn't officially revealed a release date for the Creators Update, but it's widely expected to be made available to all existing Windows 10 PCs in April.