Microsoft Edge Collections (22H2 Archive)

Note: There is a newer version of this chapter available.

A unique Microsoft Edge feature called Collections helps you gather, save, and organize information about a specific topic as you browse the web and access relevant content from multiple places. It works well for researching trips, shopping, school papers, work projects, and the like, and can be easier to manage than using Favorites.

Collections appears as a floating pane in Microsoft Edge in which you can create and edit collections, add web pages and discrete bits of information to collections, and share and otherwise manage collections. You can display this pane by selecting the Collections button in the Edge toolbar, if present, or by navigating to Settings and more (“…”) > Collections.

You can also pin the pane to the right side of the Microsoft Edge window so that it doesn’t block any of the web pages you view. This also makes it easier to add pages or other information to a collection.

Collections isn’t limited to your Windows PC: this feature is also available in Microsoft Edge for Android, iPhone, and iPad, and whatever collections you create will sync between each of these devices.

Create a new collection

To create a new collection, open Collections and select “Start new collection.” When you do, a new collection appears in the Collections pane with its name highlighted so you can edit it.

If you’re viewing a page you want to add to this new collection, you can use the “Add current page” button or link to do so now.

You can also create a new collection by right-clicking the currently-viewed web page, an image, or some selected text and choosing “Add page to Collections” (or “Add to Collections”) and then “Start new collection.”

Add a web page to a collection

Many people will want to add a page to a collection. Doing so is similar to saving a favorite (bookmark), though the Collections presentation is nicer.

To add the currently-viewed page to a collection, right-click an empty area of the page and choose “Add page to Collections” and then the name of the collection.

Or, if the Collections pane is already open, you can select the “Add current page” link in the Collections pane instead.

When you do so, the page is added at the bottom of the items in the selected collection.

Add specific text to a collection

Sometimes you don’t want to collect an entire web page and would instead like to collect just some specific text on a page. To do so, select the text you’d like to add, right-click it, and choose “Add page to Collections” and then the name of the collection.

But there’s an easier way, assuming you have the Collections pane pinned: You can select the text you’d like to add and then drag it right into the Collections pane.

Add an image to a collection

Collecting an image works similarly: You can right-click an image you’d like to collect, then choose “Add to Collections” and then the name of the collection. Or, simply drag and drop it into the Collections pane.

Edit a collection

You can perform a variety of collection management actions when viewing a collection, including:

Rename the collection. To rename the current collection, simply select it and start typing.

Rearrange the collected items. To change the position of a collected item, just drag it to the position you prefer and drop it there.

Delete one or more collected items. To delete a collected item, right-click and choose “Delete.” To do so with more than one item, use the selection box in the upper-right corner of each item to select the items you wish to delete and then select the Delete selection icon that appears.

Open all of the collection items. To open all of the items in the current collection, select Sharing and more (“…”) and then Open all. A new Edge window will open and display each item in its own tab.

Add a note to a collection

In addition to collecting items from the web, you can add your own notes to a collection too.

To add a note, open a collection and select the Add note button. In the note panel that appears, type your note, which can include formatted text.

You can add multiple notes to any collection and arrange them as desired in the list.

Be sure to check out all the note options, which include bolding, italicizing, and underlining text, bulleted lists, font styles, and your choice of note colors.

Share a collection or items in a collection

Collections can be shared in a variety of ways, as can one or more collected items. Supported sharing methods include sending a collection to Microsoft Excel, OneNote, or Word, copying a collection to the clipboard so you can paste its collected article names, URLs, and notes in any application, and copying between collections.

To share a collection, open it and then select Sharing and more (“…”) and then the method you’d like to use.

To share one or more items within a collection, open it and then use the selection box in the upper-right corner of each item to select the items you wish to share. Then, select Sharing and more (“…”) and the method you’d like to use.

Delete one or more collections

To delete a collection, open the Collections pane, right-click the collection, and choose “Delete collection.”

To delete two or more collections, open the Collections pane and use the selection box in the upper-right corner of each collection to select the collections you wish to delete. Then, select the Delete selection icon.