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
Elliot Kirk Being able to set aside tabs was very convenient for me especially if I was working on a project and only needed these tabs open temporarily. If I wanted to take a break and browse around or just have YouTube up I would set aside my other tabs so it wouldn't become cluttered and just have a few tabs going.
Combining the set tabs aside feature with the collections tab seems like the collections would just get cluttered if I add pages to it that I'll never used again. Collections are something I use for pages I visit often and don't need to go through my bookmarks or history to find those pages(which makes me feel like Favorites are irrelevant now). If there's a solution to make the set aside feature not clutter the Collections then yeah, merging the two would be cool but I feel it might lose some of it's speed if merged, but it might benefit from being merged with collections because you would be able to name your session.I'm not sure. Keeping it separate seems to be more convenient because it's more focused on what it's suppose to do. Set tabs aside for later and then remove them once restored. Quick and simple.
I thought i would also add my 2 cents to this discussion. As i am really trying to get into the New Edge but there are some key items that need to be implemented.
• Ask users if they want to close all tabs when they close a browser window
- The browser should give a choice to close all tabs or specific tab. That being said, it should also be customizable such that the user can turn the feature on/off.
• Bring the tab set aside feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge
- YES! i was trying to use collections and it is no where near as streamlined experience. Was frustrated on the collections location and its layout. But reading through some of the comments, i believe the collections and set aside features could be combined.
- Keep Set Aside button locations in upper left hand corner
- Keep organization of Set Aside but add ability to name tab groupings
- Keep the syncing of collections
- Have the ability to add current page to set aside tabs
- Combine the sharing tab features of both
This is just the top of my head key items that I thought of, will update as i think of more.
The Set Aside Tabs feature is by far my favorite feature in Classic Edge. Actually, it is the main reason I gravitate to Edge. The feature provides the ability to organize multiple workflow easily while preventing my poor RAM from thrashing.
I know that you have concerns about the placement of the buttons. I personally like the placement as it provides a low-friction way to manage my workflows. Perhaps, a switch in Settings would make everyone happy.
However, the most important things is to bring back the functionality, even if combined with Collections.
Elliot Kirk If you are providing a prompt at closing to protect me from accidentally closing all of my tabs, it would be most efficient to have an option to set them aside and close as well. Half the time I close the browser, I meant to set aside my tabs first and am cancelling just to do that before actually closing the window.
So the flow would be "Click X to close browser" > "Are you sure you want to close all of these tabs?" > "Set Aside/Close Them/Cancel"
Elliot Kirk Set Tabs Aside was really one of the best features of the Legacy Edge, & it's great to see it being implemented in the new Edge.
- The feature should be implemented in whole like it used to be in the Legacy Edge, & there is no problem in the button placing in the top left corner. It just feels natural to have that button to Set the Tabs aside. The button to have the tabs set aside can however be place on the toolbar if needed.
- I would like to see the option to just right click on a tab & Set it aside from the Tab Context Menu. There may be some situations where not all of the open tabs are to be set aside & this would be very helpful in that case.
- There can also be an option to make pre-defined Sets just like we can make a Collection, just to be add that tab instantly like "Add this tab to a Set">"Set X", which can feel more natural.
- Different color labelling for different sets can be considered, however I can't say if it can be helpful for all the users.
As for the option to Warn on Close, I am totally in favour for the feature, it should make the workflow easier, & make us more free in closing tabs accidentally & closing the entire browser window.
Looking to see these features being implemented soon!
Thanks!
Elliot Kirk This might be coming from the need to manage workspaces and conserve resources. Might be good to be able to have something that helps organize, alt-tab between, and hibernate these workspaces. I know I run into issues being able to maintain these "workspaces". Also, with so many of my tools being web apps, it makes it really annoying to have to click into each tab instead of the browser tab bar being treated more like a task bar.
I'm using Firefox and it ALWAYS warns me if I want exit with more than a tab opened ! And it's optional !
I exit a lot by mistake and this warning always saves the day!
I use more than 20 tabs and sometimes even more than 200 tabs in the same time daily for my work!!!
Now Imagine if I clicked exit by mistake!! Which happens a lot BTW !!
SPECIALLY when I'm editing in WordPress or editing anything else!!!
So closing all that by a mistake is just A JOKE!! Every browser should have this option! Can't believe many bowers doesn't have it !!
Actually if you don't want to add the 2 options (warn me or don't warn me) for any reason then IT MUST warn us by default then !!!
And it's actually how I count how many opened tabs !! I mean when you add the warning of course you should mention how many tabs are opened in the warning !!
It's just extremely important that I simply won't move to Edge until this is added !!Elliot Kirk Sometimes Warn On Close is as simple as I'm not paying close enough attention and close the browser vice closing another program or individual tab. In my - admitted haste - I've closed my Tab Rich Browser by mistake. A simple warning for those of us who are getting a tad hasty in our older age would be a nice option; one that would *not* be set on by default but one I could set for myself. What I've appreciated since the early days of the Win10 Insider was having some sense of shaping the OS as it moved from development to flight. Similarly, having even a small voice in shaping the next iteration of browser development is pretty cool.
Elliot Kirk I really really miss the Set Tabs Aside feature. It was THE BEST feature from the old Edge browser. I do think both Set Tabs Aside and Collections can and should be implemented on Edge because they provide different use cases. Collections is for static pages and documents you want to save, while Set Tabs Aside is dynamic (it MOVES from the open tabs to the Set Tabs Aside area when you click the button, and then it MOVES from the Set Tabs Aside area to the tab bar when you reopen them) making it always updated with what you're currently working.
Something I'd really like to se implemented aside from what has already been mentioned is the ability for Set Tabs Aside to store sessions automatically (in a different area of course, maybe in a submenu) so that even if I forget to click on the Set Tabs Aside button, if my browser crashes or if I just want to go back to a previous session, it'll already have my previous sessions stored and ready to be reopened.
Also please work on reliability. On old Edge some of my tabs would be simply gone from Set Tabs Aside, and this happened constantly. This is definitely something I don't want to happen on the new Edge.
- Agree that Tab Set Aside is one of the major things that is missing for my workflow on new Edge. Yes there are extensions, but they are pretty ugly and nowhere near as intuitive as the legacy/tradition Edge approach. Please please do bring this back - and include it in the Sync engine as an option!
I used Set Aside Tabs a lot in classic Edge. I had a stack of many tabs and it worked very well. I have (well, HAD, because classic Edge is now gone) tabs set aside for different tasks.
1. I am a net control operator on the amateur radio Maritime Mobile Service Network. I have many tabs open for that function, and that function, only. See below.
2. I am webmaster for a nonprofit. I have several tabs open for that; designing the website and viewing it when it's updated. I also have tabs open for searching for and downloading content to put into the website. That's another tab set.
These are just two of the examples I can provide. Right now, I am using two different profiles, which works--sort of. My Maritime Net is in a profile that is NOT connected to a Microsoft account. It works, but nothing on that profile links to anything else. But, I can live with that. However, it would be superb to have the Set Aside tabs so I could work on one project, then set the tabs aside, and go into a totally different project--like I did with classic Edge.
Two things about Set Aside Tabs: (1) the location where the control was in classic Edge is fine. It was out of the way and worked well. (2) when closing a browser window that has set-aside tabs open, please give a reminder, "Do you want to close this browser without setting aside your tabs?" Or, have it automatically set them aside again.
I haven't used Collections at all (well, I did look at it, but it didn't seem to work for what I need--maybe I just don't understand it properly). It seems cumbersome and just not suited to my needs.
Thanks for taking our feedback!
Dan AI4GK
