Microsoft Edge Beta brings Collections and OneNote closer together

Edge
Edge (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • The Microsoft Edge Beta channel received a new update this week.
  • The new build adds new Collections features, updates to Internet Explorer mode, and more..
  • This update is rolling out to beta testers as version 85.0.564.18 now.

Microsoft is right on task with its six-week update schedule for the Microsoft Edge Beta channel. This week, a fresh update went out to testers, bringing several new features and changes to check out.

This latest build comes in at version number 85.0.564.18. The most notable addition in this release is closer integration between Collections and OneNote, making it easier to add Collections content to your OneNote projects. There are also updates to Internet Explorer mode and much more.

Here's a look at the release notes from Microsoft:

  • On-premise synchronization of Favorites and Settings. Now you synchronize browser favorites and settings between Active Directory profiles within your own environment without the need for cloud sync.
  • Internet Explorer mode update.
    • Microsoft Edge group policy support for trusting site + app combos to launch without a confirmation prompt. Group policy support added that lets administrators add site + app combos that are trusted to launch without the confirmation prompt. This adds the ability for administrators to configure trusted protocol/origin combinations (such as Microsoft 365 apps) for their end-users to suppress the confirmation prompt when navigating to a URL that contains an app protocol.
  • PDF Highlighter tool. This tool can be added to the toolbar for PDFs to easily highlight important text.
  • The Storage Access API is available. The Storage Access API allows access to first-party storage in a third-party context when a user has provided a direct intent to allow storage that would otherwise be blocked by the browser's current configuration.
  • Send to OneNote is available for Microsoft Edge Collections. Everyone's excited to be able to send the information they've gathered in Collections to OneNote, where they can append it to a larger project and collaborate with others! And even more importantly, in Microsoft Edge 85, you'll be able send content to Office for Mac products (Word, Excel, and OneNote) for both MSA and Azure Active Directory.
  • DevTools updates. For details about the following updates, see What's New In DevTools (Microsoft Edge 85).
  • Microsoft Edge DevTools supports Surface Duo emulation. The Microsoft Edge DevTools can emulate the Surface Duo so you can test how your web content will look on dual-screen devices. To turn on this experiment in DevTools, enter Device Mode by pressing Ctrl+Shift+M on Windows or Command+Shift+M on macOS, and then select Surface Duo from the device drop-down list.
  • Microsoft Edge DevTools lets you match keyboard shortcuts to VS Code. The Microsoft Edge DevTools supports customizing keyboard shortcuts in the DevTools to match your editor/IDE. In Microsoft Edge 85, we are adding the ability to match DevTools keyboard shortcuts to VS Code. This change will help increase productively across VS Code and DevTools.

If you're already testing the Microsoft Edge Beta channel, you can grab the above updates by checking for updates in the "About Microsoft Edge" portion of the settings menu. Otherwise, the Beta, Dev, and Canary channels are all available from the Edge Insider site. The release (stable) version of Edge is available at the official Edge page.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl