Forum Discussion
Discussion - Set Aside Tabs and Warn on Close
Hi Insiders, we have received a lot of feedback about how you would like to close your tabs with the option of easily finding and reopening them later as you move between different workflows. Specifically, many of you are asking for the Tab Set Aside feature from the previous version of Microsoft Edge to be brought back. Some of you are also asking for a prompt to help avoid losing all your tabs such that you can’t find them again if you accidentally close the browser.
• Ask users if they want to close all tabs when they close a browser window
• Bring the tab set aside feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge
Each of these requests seem related to the fact that many of you have a lot of tabs open at once across many tasks and workflows. This leads to a situation where it can often be difficult to manage all of your tabs at the same time, and each additional tab makes it difficult to deal with all of the rest (e.g. tabs get smaller, harder to read each titles, many similar tab icons begin to blur together, etc.). But it can also be scary to close tabs and declutter your workspace, for fear of not being able to find things again later if you need to. We have definitely experienced this problem ourselves, observed it in our research and conversations with users, and agree it is an area where we want to invest in tools to help you be more productive across various tasks. We are actively investigating the best way to address this problem and would love your help and input as we proceed to make sure we get the experience just right.
We have looked through your feedback, and there are definitely some very valid reasons for why there was value in the Set Aside feature such as: Helping you pick up on a task later without leaving the tabs open when you aren’t using them, organizing your tabs into groups related to a similar task, and a short term home for more transient tasks that didn’t warrant saving in a permanent location such as Favorites.
We also reviewed feedback on the Set Aside feature itself from people actually using it in the previous version of Microsoft Edge, and there were some very valid critiques on how it worked and how it could be improved. For example, the Set Aside buttons being in a location where they were often accidentally clicked causing some to think their tabs had disappeared, requests to be able to set aside a subset of the currently open tabs rather than “all or nothing”, or requests to rename and personalize tab groups further to more easily find them again later.
The request for a prompt before closing the browser also feels related, because if people could always confidently find and reopen any of their previous tabs, then there would be less fear or concern about losing tabs if they are accidently closed. This would allow people to feel free to declutter and reduce the number of open tabs with no fear about finding them later if needed, and more easily focus on the subset of tabs they are working on now.
As we begin this journey of investigating how best to address these requests, we are asking for your help. Please continue to tell us more about your experience with Set Aside and closing tabs in Microsoft Edge, why these features are important to you in which types of tasks, what did and didn’t work for you about previous implementations, and how you would improve on these scenarios going forward.
337 Replies
I am replying in favor of 'tabs set aside', they are particularly useful for long bunch of tabs that are set aside for later review. It is not recommended that edge opens with all previous tabs, rather they can set those aside (or have an option to) once edge is closed with all tabs. Without set aside tabs, i am currently in disarray for the set of things i was supposed to do. please do bring the feature back. thank you Elliot Kirk
"Without set aside tabs, i am currently in disarray for the set of things i was supposed to do. please do bring the feature back. thank you @Elliot Kirk"
Again, making the set-aside tabs nonvolatile, in that they survive closing and reopening the browser.
Regards,
Dan
- Set aside:
As for the buttons that could be placed, it would be a good option to customize it, for those who want to use it as Edge Legacy (top left) can use it, and for those who do not, so they choose the most convenient for them. That would avoid any problem with users. Elliot Kirk Regarding the option to "ask users if they want to close all tabs when they close a browser window", this is one of the https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=147 for Google Chrome/Chromium. If you were to do this in Chromium Edge I think you will see a lot of converts.
Having a warning popup when we close the browser with multiple tabs open would be very good (like Edge classic and IE)
It has happened to me to close the browser with several tabs open and when I click on the red cross, tell me "and no, I wanted to keep this tab open...."With Edge classic and this famous popup, no worries
Elliot Kirk One thing that you need to do when you implement TSA is make the set-asides nonvolatile. In other words, if I close the browser without having set the tabs aside again, they should be available the next time I open the browser. I had that problem with Classic Edge, forgetting to set the tabs aside again on closing, and if I recall correctly, I lost that set-aside.
Thanks,
Dan
Dan_AI4GK What is the permanence of those tabs in your opinion.
As I personally see the Tabs Set Aside feature, it's for temporary data. My responsibility as the user is to set them aside if I want to keep them, or if it's something I frequently use, create Favorites. What you want is more in-line with the Collection feature in testing in Edge. Collections are collections of tabs, but retain permanence.
If I may offer, to Microsoft. I think there is an opportunity to change Favorites in an intuitive and productive way. Tabs Set Aside and Collections are an integrated feature of Favorites.
Tabs Set Aside are collections of in-progress work. Collections are collection's of both in-progress work and Favorites, or Favorites in a collection for a common task. Both being maintained in the cloud, as well as off-line, for access from device to device. One button for setting tabs aside or creating a collection, both accessed via the Favorites button.
Above the "Favorites bar", would be Collections. Collections would be broken into two groups, based on how the user sets the Collection. If the user, when they set aside tabs, selects an option to keep after each use, the collection will be retained. If however they do not, the collection upon opening is removed from the collections until it is re-added as a collection of tabs set aside. In either case, when the user attempts to set aside tabs to create a collection, they are given the option of providing a name for that collection. The option to provide a name is available later by right-clicking the collection in the menu.
This does a few things:
1. It provides a common interface for Tabs set aside as well as collections as well as Favorites. Where you find something, where you do it, it makes perfect sense. The exception to this is minor, but how you add a favorite and how you add a collection.
2. It gives users the choice of either simply setting tabs aside, or making a collection that will be reused. In either case, both allow the user to improve productivity by working in a way they do, without necessarily creating new underpinnings.3. It can in effect, utilize the internal workings of Chrome without a significant amount of work to create new functionality. Right-click on a Favorite group and you can open that entire group of favorites. Having Collections available as an item you can single click on to open the group takes the step of knowing how to create a favorite group, and knowing what to click and where out of the equation.
4. It changes favorites into a productivity tool rather than a heap of sites that periodically needs pruning. If the user is given the option of, when clicking on the Favorites icon, of displaying the Collections and collapsing the Favorites bar, this may push that paradigm shift further.
"As I personally see the Tabs Set Aside feature, it's for temporary data. My responsibility as the user ...."
As I personally see the Set Aside Tabs (as I recall it being named in classic Edge), is a place where I can conveniently "set aside" tabs to use later on, whether it's later in the session, later in the day, or next year. It's there for me to use as I wish--on a permanent basis, if I so desire. There are a number of ways to do almost everything in Windows. For instance, I typically don't use CTRL-C and/or CTRL-V to cut and paste. I use SHFT-DEL and SHFT-INS. (I picked that up in the 1980's and 90s's with OS/2.) Who's right and who's wrong? Both are right.
As far as users having a responsibility, I didn't realize that I, as a user, had a responsibility. When I'm operating a motor vehicle, I have a responsibility to operate in a wise and prudent manner, in conformity with the law. In society, I have a responsibility to follow the law. As a user of a software package, I don't think I have a responsibility, other than to use the software in a prudent, ethical, and lawful manner.
The fact is that classic Edge had a feature that is missing in Edge Chromium. Microsoft opened a discussion on how to implement this feature, since they received a sufficient number of requests to re-implement it. I might be out of line here, but I just can't wrap my head around the "I don't use this feature, so you shouldn't have it." thought. I have tried Collections and it does not seem to serve my purpose (not to mention that it hasn't even been implemented in Edge or Edge Beta yet; it's still available only in Canary and Dev).
If Microsoft decides to incorporate Set Aside Tabs, I'll be very happy. If they don't, I'll have to find a different way to do what I need to do.
Regards,
Dan
- Very good point!
The 'classic' Edge was causing performance issues on my laptop, and I mostly used Chrome.
After the stable release of the new Edge, and some experience using it at work, I decided it was a good time to also switch to using Edge at home.
The option to set aside tabs is the main feature that I liked in Edge that is now missing and I would definitely love to see that brought back.I often take part in online discussions which may take multiple days because not all participants are available at the same time. When I then use information from different sources in the discussion, with other browsers I was forced to keep a list of my sources or keep them all in open tabs (using favorites for a temporary list like this isn't really a good alternative), and by setting tabs aside I can have easy access to them all with just a few clicks.
Another thing where setting tabs aside is really helpful is when restarting the laptop, I want to have the same tabs available that I had before the restart. Now there is the Restore button when you open the browser after a restart, but this does not always work, and I think the set aside feature is more reliable.Elliot Kirk a serious user of the Tabs Set Aside feature of Edge, with over 400 sets of tabs imported into the New Edge from my tabs set aside, the feature is invaluable to me.
I don't use the TSA feature in the manner you described. I conduct research into family genealogy. My research might begin with one person, that one person has a wife or a husband, they have children. Eventually, my one set of tab branches out, into one for the wife and her parents/siblings (to start with), one for each of the children they have, and one for each of the parents. Each set of tabs, may contain a few to a dozen tabs depending on how much content I have for each individual.
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Beer-1482 this profile takes 9 tabs, to begin with. The majority of the tabs I'll close. The Census tabs I'll keep open to build the profiles of his wife and children. Since all the census records pertain to him, his wife, or his children, these are used to build their profiles. Once I've begun a profile of each child and spouse, all the tabs for the resources where the information applies is closed, and any information relevant to that child or spouse is grouped in it's own window, to be worked on or set aside. As I work on a person, their tabs are closed, but for each individual person, with at least one spouse and one child, there are four other tab groups established and set aside when I close the window.
So, I'm not overwhelmed by the small tabs. Let's not operate from the standpoint that that's the problem, because for the majority of people who actually appropriately use the TSA feature, that's not a problem. We use the TSA feature to organize our work.
What would help:
1. Definitely agree that the TSA button should be moved. I've more than once accidentally mistaken it for the back button and I frequently use it. A button next to/between the Favorites and Profile buttons makes sense.
2. Allow for a single tab to be set aside via a right-click option. I.e. right-click on the tab, and one of the options is to set it aside.
3. Allow for Tab Set naming, however not as a requirement to set aside tabs. I can work with the implementation of Collections, but it would be ideal to have a quick ability to set the tabs aside, rather than be forced to create a named collection, then individually add tabs to it.
The ideal way it would work is: With an open set of tabs, the user either right-clicks the tab and sets the individual tab aside, or the user clicks a button and all the tabs are set aside.
It could be augmented to prompt the user if they would like to name the Tab Set, or add tabs to a given set. There's other research I do of a historical nature, where it would be advantageous to be able to add a tab to a set of existing tabs and being able to add to it via a named group rather than going into the collection and adding it to that collection.
New Edge seems to already have a feature where the browser will reopen tabs that were open when the browser later. What would be nice is to be able to set the browser to open with a particular collection. You can essentially do this already, but where a collection exists, allow the user to select a specific collection to open when the browser is open.- Let’s talk about two more best features for privacy.
1) In Vivaldi browser there's screen privacy filter – Filter Obscure, this is the best feature most people like it😊
We view a lot of private information in our browsers bank details, private emails and messages, that information is often on our screens.
Do you worry that others might see private information you’re viewing on your screen?
Once you will turned on that filter , move the mouse cursor out of the browser window then the page content will get blurred.
For more information click on link
https://vivaldi.com/blog/hide-private-content-from-your-screen/
2) In UC browser there is a "Bosskey
(You can press the shortcut key to hide/unhide the browser window it will also hide browser window from Taskbar and Mute webpages )
Ctrl + Q- Nice, Vivaldi is really a great example showing how flexible Chromium is for developing custom UI and unique features, definitely a source of inspiration for Edge 🙂
JaturnMicrosoft
I love the the idea of #1 but would like the option of tying it in to biometric. If my face move away from the screen then the screen goes blurred or the browser windows goes dark. Having multiple, parallel options to fit different scenario (i.e. still in front of screen but someone is at your desk talking with you) would be best. The biometric option is great for when you step away for a quick second to return shortly or if you forget to lock your machine. This feature could be useful for Windows in general. I know we have a similar feature in Window Hello but the different is active tracking and instance blurr/darkmode instead of locking station although locking station should also be an option.
Elliot Kirk i would love the ask before closing all Tabs feature.
Only yesterday i closed all my needed open Tabs by aside 3 Times because the X form my Notepad++ was visible under the X from Edge so when i wanted to close Notepad++ i closed Edge by accident with 4 Tabs still open an a question "are you sure" would be nice.
For the Set Aside Tabs feature i have no opinion at this moment.
Next time it happens, do this. you won't lose anything
Firefox has the restore session option too which does the same thing
- The discussion has been great. Now what?
"Talk is cheap". Are we waiting for google to port this into chrome?- There are a lot older discussions like this:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/provide-run-open-save-save-as-options-when-downloading-files/m-p/962775
they haven't wrapped them up yet neither have they posted a conclusion. it's been more than 3 months now..
Elliot Kirk wrote:The request for a prompt before closing the browser also feels related, because if people could always confidently find and reopen any of their previous tabs, then there would be less fear or concern about losing tabs if they are accidently closed.
Elliot Kirk The optional prompt (user choice whether to enable or not) we're asking for to be displayed on clicking the close button of an Edge window with multiple tabs open has nothing to do with finding and reopening the tabs. For privacy reasons I have set the browser to wipe all history on close. So I'm not looking for any of my previous tabs to pop up again in case I have deliberately closed a window with multiple tabs open. All I'm asking for is that if I click the close button on the browser window, to warn me so that I can then decide whether the click was accidental or deliberate. Something that will prevent the accidental loss of all my open tabs, that's all! I fail to understand what's there to debate endlessly about this anyway, and what's so hard about implementing a simple (optional) dialog such as this?
This, and the option to not have the browser close when the last tab is closed are my top 2 requests for the new Edge. If these can be implemented soon then the browser would be somewhat usable at least IMO.
