Microsoft Edge is my go-to browser, and every time I try a different one, I’m reminded of how much heavey lifting Edge quitely does for me. It has features that no other browser offers, and collectively, they save me a lot of effort.
Collections in Edge help me with organizing research. Workspaces keep my projects separate, so personal browsing never collides with work. The sidebar gives me instant access to apps I rely on every day. These features are not flashy, yet now that I have grown used to them, it feels almost impossible to switch to a different browser.
Collections to organize research
Gather, group, and revisit
My work requires me to read a lot of articles, jump between product pages, and, and pull together images from all over the web. Collections in Edge makes all of this easy. I can open it from the toolbar or with the handy Ctrl + Shift + Y shortcut.
In the pane that appears on the right, I can drop links, screenshots, notes, and images. Edge also lets me save links and images to a collection from the right-click menu.
Even if I close Edge after this, I can reopen a collection later and launch every saved link at once. And because these Collections sync with all my devices, I don’t have to worry about leaving anything behind when switching devices.
Workspaces to keep projects separate
Dedicated spaces for every part of your life
I use my browser for a lot of things besides work. I use it for personal use, hobbies and the countless rabbit holes I fall into every day. Even within work, I jump between different projects.
Workspaces in Edge give me a clean way to separate all of that. Each Workspace has its own tabs, favorites and browsing sessions, so nothing gets mixed. And similar to Collections, I can close and re-open Workspaces any time without losing tabs.
But the most useful Workspaces feature is that I can invite others to collaborate. This is super handy when working on group projects, planning a trip, or anything that needs shared research. A shared workspace allows everyone to see the same pages and saves a surprising amount of time.
Mini apps that follow you anywhere
The Edge sidebar is my personal favorite. It sits on the right side of the browser, always available but never in the way. I’ve customized it to show my favorite sites like WhatsApp, Spotify, Reddit, Yahoo Finance, CNN, and a few others.
I can simply click their icon on the sidebar and Edge opens them in the side panel. This lets me change music, reply to messages, and skim through news headlines without leaving the current tab. The sidebar also has Bing search, which is handy for quick searches. I do wish I could swap it for another search engine, but for simple queries, it gets the job done.
Finally, there’s the Copilot chat, which I use to summarize pages, long YouTube videos, generate images, and get help with almost anything. It can even analyze and compare content across all my tabs, which saves me so much time.
Drop to send files and notes
A frictionless bridge between your devices
Cross device sync is one of the most important features for any browser, and Edge takes it a step further with Drop. It gives me a simple way to send notes, links, photos, documents, and screenshots between all the devices I use.
The Drop panel offers a chat-like interface, so I can quickly take notes or drag and drop anything I come across while browsing. The moment I send it, it shows up on my other devices.
Also, everything I share through Drop also gets stored in a dedicated OneDrive folder. This makes it easy to backup items to the cloud without actually opening OneDrive repeatedly.
I made Microsoft Edge distraction-free and didn’t need a single add-on
You spend most of your day looking at a browser, so why not make it work properly for you?
Split screen and picture-in-picture mode
Two views at once
There are some days I feel like I am juggling more windows than actual tasks. Edge’s split screen feature cuts that chaos in half by letting two pages side by side in a single tab. I can resize this layout based on the site or arrange tabs in a vertical view. The best part is that every tab can have its own split layout, which makes switching between workflows incredibly smooth.
Picture-in-picture is another small but mighty helper. It lets me pop out YouTube videos in a floating mini player that stays on top while I browse. I use it all the time for tutorials, lectures, or even background entertainment while I work. I can move the little window anywhere and resize it so it never blocks what I’m doing.
Microsoft Edge has become more than just the place where I open tabs. It has turned into a workspace that adapts to the way I think, research, and multitask. Besides the above features, Edge also has vertical tabs, a handy PDF editor, a screenshot tool, and pletny more that make browsing easier for me.
