Microsoft Publishes a New Roadmap for the New Edge
- Paul Thurrott
- Feb 17, 2020
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Microsoft has published a list of features it plans to add to its Edge web browser over the next several months.
“We added a new item to our list: Enable navigation of PDF files via [a] table of contents is now Under Review,” Microsoft’s Missy Quarry writes in a new Tech Community post. “[And] we think you all will be excited to see that one of our top items has moved to In Discussion: Bring the tab preview feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge.”
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Those are useful new features. But the updated roadmap—which consists of a list of features that Microsoft plans to add to Edge, or is at least considering—contains a few bigger items, including history sync, which is planned for “Summer,” and extension sync, which we recently learned will hit the Canary channel this month.
Here are some other interesting features heading to the new Edge this year:
- Option to set a custom photo as the New Tab Page background photo. Expected this month.
- Make Edge available on Linux. No time frame, but it is officially planned now.
- Support read-aloud of PDF files. Planned.
- An option to add a share button to the toolbar. Planned.
- Add the ability to ink on web pages. Planned.
- Support themes from the Chrome Web Store. Planned.
- Provide an option to prevent auto-play of video and audio when you open a website. Planned.
Additionally, Microsoft is discussing adding certain features, such as a transparent theme for the browser frame and the addition of Fluent Design System elements, but there’s no guarantee any of those will make it into the product. And some features—like hiding the Bing search bar on the New Tab page and allowing that to be changed to another search provider—are under review.
Of course, some feature requests aren’t going to make the cut. Microsoft notes that it doesn’t plan to support mouse gestures for common actions like navigation and tab close, or allow users to sign-in to the browser with a Google account, for example.