Microsoft’s new Chromium-powered Edge browser comes with built-in support for Profiles, a feature that lets you create separate accounts to share your web browser with other people who need to use a Windows 10 PC. Moreover, with multiple profiles for personal and work-related content, Microsoft Edge allows you to keep your browsing data (passwords, favourites, extensions, history and other settings) separate.
However, the Edge team is aware that dealing with different profiles in Microsoft Edge can cause some frustrations. “We’ve heard that two things that users find challenging is getting links to open in the right profile and making sure that you don’t mistakenly open work content in your personal profile,” the team explained today. In order to address these issues, Microsoft Edge is getting the ability to select a default profile to open external links, as well as Automatic Profile Switching when you browse work websites with your personal profile.
Selecting a default profile
The ability to select a default profile is available in Microsoft Edge 81 and higher. If you want to ensure that links you open from other Windows 10 apps open in your preferred profile in Edge, here are the steps you need to follow:
- Navigate to edge://settings
- Select the “Multiple profile preferences” option (Note: This will only show if you have multiple profiles.)
- Use the drop down menu to select which profile you’d like external links to open with.
Automatic profile switching
Moving on to the Automatic Profile Switching feature, this functionality will enable your browser to automatically switch to a work profile as soon as you open a site that is authenticated with your work or school account. Microsoft Edge will display a prompt (shown above), allowing you to choose the work profile you want to switch to.
Do you think that these improvements will make it easier to use multiple profiles in Microsoft Edge? Let us know in the comments down below.
