To cap off this week, Microsoft pushed out build 83.0.461.1 for Edge Insiders in the Dev Channel. Due to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis, this update is coming a bit earlier than usual, and the first from the version 83 release. It is bigger than previous releases and brings the ability to sync extensions, family safety settings, and more. Here’s a look at some things that you need to know.
Starting first with the new features, there is the much-awaited ability to sync extensions across devices. This was missing from Edge’s launch but has been tested on the Canary channel and is now finally in Edge Dev, too. You’ll also find that the same Family Settings page from Edge Canary is now in this build as well. It gives parents access to screen time limits, spending limits, and filtered contents. Other new features are below.
- Added the ability to add all tabs to a Collection.
- Added the ability to drag multiple items from a webpage into a Collection at once on certain websites.
- Added support for adverb highlighting in Immersive Reader.
- Added support for the Scroll To Text Fragment management policy from upstream Chromium.
- Added a management policy to configure the deletion of cached files and images when the browser closes.
Next up are the reliability improvements and changed behaviors. On this front, many issues with browser crashes, and switching profiles have been fixed. The Read Aloud feature, IE Mode, and the Edge Surf Game get fixed too in this release. You can see some of these below, with the full details being available at Microsoft.
- Fixed an issue where closing a tab sometimes crashes the browser.
- Fixed a crash when opening the Collections pane.
- Fixed an issue where adding an item to a Collection sometimes crashes the browser.
- Fixed an issue where switching profiles sometimes crashes the browser.
- Fixed an issue where clicking the icon on the address bar to open the popup that shows more information about a website and what permissions it has sometimes crashes the browser.
- Fixed an issue where the Time Trial mode of the surf game sometimes crashes the browser.
- Fixed an issue where navigating to an intranet website sometimes causes a browser crash if IE mode is enabled.
- Fixed a hang when using Read Aloud.
- Fixed an issue where DRM-protected video, like on Netflix, stutters when the stream’s resolution changes.
- Fixed an issue where tabs show up in the “Recently Closed” section of History even though the option to delete browsing data on exit is enabled.
- Fixed an issue where clicking the link on the Favorites Bar to import favorites if none exist triggers the First Run Experience unexpectedly.
- Fixed an issue where middle-clicking on the Collections button opens the Collections pane.
Lastly, many of the known issues from the past are still persisting. This includes favorites being duplicated, Edge windows being black, and users with multiple audio output devices not getting audio from Edge. New known issues include a “wobbling” behavior when scrolling using the trackpad, the screenshots tool not working.
As a reminder, we’d like to mention that due to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis, Microsoft will be pausing major updates to the stable Edge channel. It will stay at version 81, as it falls in line with The Chrome Developers’ decision to pause upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases.
