A new sidebar in the latest version of Microsoft’s Edge browser lets you respond to emails, access some of the Office suite, and more.
It was previously confirmed that a new sidebar was being developed as part of the company’s ongoing effort to entice users to switch from browsers like Google Chrome, Opera, and others.
According to a Microsoft blogpost, you may access a wide variety of services, including your Outlook inbox, Office documents, games, and even practical tools like a clock, calculator, and dictionary from Edge.
Side links only
You can access it by pressing Control + Shift + /, or by selecting the three dots in the top left and selecting “Show Sidebar” from the drop-down menu. You can’t change its size, but you have six possibilities.
The “Discover” function is useful since it provides you with tidbits of information as you browse the web, such as recipes and film trivia. Instead of going to the Taskbar, you may use the calculator and other tools from there.
But there’s a lot wrong with the Office section, as opening any of the programmes just takes you to their own websites when you click on them. The same holds true for Games, making us question the utility of this widget.
This feature, which adds a search bar under the address bar, is similar to pop-up bars in older browsers. Another example would be a toolbar installation prompt when setting up a new app.
For instance, you could install the aforementioned suite of programmes, even though the vast majority of them would serve little practical purpose. The sidebar is similar to these in that it provides a collection of links and a few useful utilities, but not much else.
Instead of trying to catch up to other web browsers and failing miserably at it, Microsoft has an opportunity to improve here.