Microsoft Edge

Description

Microsoft Edge is pre-installed with every copy of Windows 10 and 11. Most people are introduced to it the first time they get a new PC — typically because they need it to download a different browser. But the Edge shipping today is genuinely capable, and quite different to the one Microsoft first released alongside Windows 10 in 2015.

That original Edge was based on Microsoft’s own EdgeHTML engine. It never caught on. Chrome took off, Firefox held its own, and EdgeHTML was no match for web standards that Chromium was updating at full speed. In December 2018, Microsoft conceded defeat on the engine and announced a complete build on Chromium. The new Edge was launched in January 2020.

The switch paid off immediately. Chrome extensions worked without modifications. Web compatibility problems vanished. Microsoft retained the name of Edge and built something completely different under the hood. By early 2025, Edge had risen to become the second most popular desktop browser in the world (behind only Chrome).

Major updates come every four weeks, which is the same as Chromium.

PLATFORMS

Edge runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11, on both x64 and Arm64 processor. Microsoft stopped support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 with version 109 in early 2023. On macOS, Edge is natively available for Intel and Apple Silicon. On Linux, it is distributed by Microsoft as a .deb package for Debian and Ubuntu and as an .rpm for Red Hat and Fedora.

Android requires version 10.0 or later. iPhone and iPad require iOS 18.0 or later — and since Apple requires all third-party browsers on iOS to use WebKit, the iOS version uses WebKit for rendering pages instead of Blink.

Microsoft has four release channels, Stable for regular users, Beta for tests of upcoming features, Dev for weekly developer builds, and Canary for daily experimental builds. Enterprises that prefer slower cycles of updates can opt into an Extended Stable channel that updates every eight weeks.

PROFILES AND SYNC

Edge supports multiple user profiles within the same installation, each of which has its own bookmarks, history, passwords, and extensions. Signing in with a Microsoft account syncs everything across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Send to Device sends a Web page from a desktop browser to a phone without copying and pasting a Web address.

Version 116 introduced Edge for Business, which separates work and personal browsing into different windows in the same installation. The work profile is used to enforce IT policies using Microsoft Entra ID and Intune. The personal profile remains under the control of the user. The two sides do not share cookies or credentials.

COPILOT AND AI FEATURES

Microsoft has put a lot of AI in Edge since 2023. The Copilot sidebar, which is opened using Ctrl+Shift+Period or a button on the toolbar, allows users to ask questions, summarize the current page, write text or search — without leaving an active tab.

In July of 2025, Microsoft launched Copilot Mode and expanded it in October of 2025. This optional mode replaces the new tab page with a workspace that combines chat, web search and URL navigation in a single input box. With the user’s permission, Copilot reads all of the open tabs simultaneously and answers questions that pull from multiple pages at once — useful when comparing products across multiple sites or cross-referencing research. Voice navigation allows users to speak commands instead of typing.

Copilot Actions, in limited US preview, allows Copilot to perform multi-step tasks without human intervention, such as unsubscribing from mailing lists or making reservations. Copilot Journeys groups related browsing sessions by topic to allow users to return to a research thread, without having to hunt through history.

The Scareware Blocker uses a local machine learning model that identifies full-screen scam take-over pages before they lock the browser. It works offline. Read Aloud reads web pages and PDF using neural voices with adjustable speed and language.

TAB MANAGEMENT

Vertical tabs cause the tab strip to scroll to the left hand side of the window as a collapsible panel. Each tab label receives more space, and the title bar is less cluttered. Tab Groups give a name and color to a group of related tabs and then collapse the entire group into one item. Split Screen divides the browser into two independent panes side by side — reading a source document while writing notes, comparing two pages without having to switch back and forth.

Sleeping Tabs put sleeping tabs to sleep after a configurable period of time, reducing CPU consumption and freeing memory. Workspaces gather tabs into named, persistent sets that can be shared by users with other Microsoft account holders, keeping a project organized across sessions.

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

Collections saves pages, selected text, images and notes as named groups in the sidebar. Users can export a collection to Word or Excel. Immersive Reader removes ads and navigation from article pages, and displays the clean text with adjustable font, spacing, and background color. A line-focus mode darkens everything except the line that is being read.

Drop: works as a cross-device clipboard in the sidebar. Users drag and drop files or text into it and the content is displayed instantly on other devices with the same account. A built-in screenshot tool takes a screenshot of a region or the entire page and allows for annotation before saving.

The annotation, highlighting, zoom and table-of-contents navigation are all handled by the PDF reader. Microsoft has moved enterprise Windows users to an Adobe-powered PDF viewer in October 2025. Edge Secure Network with CloudFlare: Edge Secure Network uses CloudFlare’s security to encrypt browsing traffic and hide the user’s IP address under a monthly data cap. The Password Manager creates and stores passwords and marks any stored credential that is found in a known breach.

SECURITY AND PRIVACY

Microsoft Defender SmartScreen scans all URLs and downloads against a database of known malicious sites and files and warns users before anything loads. Enhanced Security Mode optionally disables just-in-time JavaScript compilation on unfamiliar sites which reduces the attack surface available to memory-based exploits.

Tracking Prevention is conducted at three levels. Basic allows most trackers. Balanced, default, prevents trackers from unvisited sites while maintaining site functionality. Strict blocks more broadly but may break some page features. Per-site exceptions are effective at any level.

INTERNET EXPLORER MODE

IE Mode is an integration of the Trident MSHTML engine from Internet Explorer 11 into Edge. Enterprises that are still running internal web applications developed for IE10 or IE11 require this. IT administrators set the URLs to use IE Mode via group policy; everything else is opened in the standard Chromium engine. ActiveX controls are supported in IE Mode. Without it, corporate applications developed prior to the advent of modern browser standards simply would not work.

ENTERPRISE Management and Extensions

Edge for Business gives IT departments centralized control via Intune, Group Policy and Microsoft’s Edge management service — including permitted extensions, Copilot availability, security policies, and data loss prevention rules. Watermarking Protection adds a persistent watermark to confidential pages to make it obvious if they are being shared unauthorizedly. Edge integrates with Windows Update for Business, WSUS and SCCM for update deployment.

Edge accepts extensions from the Microsoft Edge Add-ons store and the Chrome Web Store. The Edge store has more than 9000 extensions. Microsoft is moving from Manifest V2 to Manifest V3 on Google’s Chromium timeline, something that impacts how some extensions — especially ad blockers — can function.