Forum Discussion
Keep Favorites Synced between Internet Explorer and Edge NOT available in Edge Chromium
Chris Jackson Deleted
I'm not quite sure what's so hard to understand about the issue.
This has nothing to do with Windows 7 or with Internet Explorer specifically. How IE mode suddenly came into the picutre - I have no idea. This is all about where to store the favorites in the new Edge.
The issue is the following:
- Users are using multiple computers. To have the same desktop, documents and favorites on all those computers Microsoft's "Folder Redirection" is used and configured through GPOs.
- So Internet Explorer's favorites are stored on e.g. \\server\users\%username%\favorites
- The old Edge has a GPO that allows it to automagically sync its own favorites with Internet Explorer's favorites that are stored on that network path. If you add a favorite in either IE or the old Edge it is automagically synced to the other browser instantly.
Now the new Edge comes along and we have to face the following limitations:
- Any kind of cloud-sync or usage of Microsoft accounts is not possible due to data privacy regulations
- The new Edge is storing its favorites in the local file deep inside the %LOCALAPPDATA% folder of the user.
This causes issues for us in a number of ways.
While the first-run import of favorites (from the redirected Internet Explorer favorites) is currently broken in v80 (its supposed to be back in v81) it only provides a momentary snapshot of the redirected favorites.
The bookmarks file being a local file means that we cannot easily back it up either. And when the user receives a new PC or uses a different machine than he usually does he'll have to import all the favorites again, from the redirected Internet Explorer favorites. But all the favorites he has managed in the new Edge in the meantime are not available (or even gone for good in the case of a new PC).
Importing the same old IE favorites on different PCs will soon result in having different favorites on all those PCs. And there is no way to easily merge them either.
This is a real problem.
We really need a way to redirect the bookmarks file to a network location so that it can be:
- used from multiple PCs
- be backed up easily during the regular server backup
- not get lost when the user's PC dies or gets replaced for another reason
All this was easily doable with the redirected favorites folder used by Internet Explorer and thanks to the "keep favorites synced" GPO in the old Edge Browser.
Also, please do not suggest to use the "UserDataDir" policy. This would redirect the entire user profile to a different location. Cache and everything. It is also not quite certain whether a redirected UserDataDir can actually be used by multiple instances of Edge on different computers at the same time (locked files issue and such). But even if it was possible, we really don't want to roam 100MB+ of useless data.
All we are really looking for is the possibility to specify a network location for the "bookmarks" file that is by default stored under "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default". That's all we really want and need.
Bonus points for actually bringing back the "keep favorites synced between IE and Edge" policy that the old Edge supported. But that would really only be the cherry on top.
Well, what can I say ... I can confirm that local sync similar to the "RoamingProfileSupport" in Chrome does in fact work in the new Edge, if you know how to enable it - for the most part anyway.
Microsoft is currently running a pilot and I've shared my feedback with them regarding it. There are still some bits that need to be ironed out (e.g. what happens when a user is running multiple Edge instances on different computers) before they can make the whole thing public. I just had a Teams conference with them about it yesterday and they said that they should have something ready in the coming weeks.
(And before anyone asks, I'm not sure I am at liberty to share how to enable the local favorites sync from the pilot, especially since it is by no means ready for production yet, so I won't. Just wanted to let you guys know that Microsoft is hearing us and is putting time into this.)
Is this pilot any different to what's already been discussed in this thread? The technical details of how to enable on-premise 'sync' from v83 onwards have already been discussed above...
- I agree with you totally. The reason that I bring it up is that there are a lot of people in IT that are stuck in a rut, and so not see the advantages of doing it in a cloud based solution, for example you have your browser settings available on on-premise workstations but also on intune managed laptops when working from home.
We want both worlds, not an or but and. I am afraid that the solution they are implementing is an or solution, or roaming profile of Microsoft account, like on Googles chrome. This https://www.gesetze-bayern.de/Content/Document/BayKrG-27 is the federal law (Art. 27 Abs. 4 Satz 5) that regulates that all data regarding patients (and internal Bookmarks of our physicians may contain patient data) have to be kept in custody of the hospital IT. Our constitutional court has decided that means "ON PREMISE". So there is no way for us to make a contract with Microsoft to store data including favorites anywhere else except on premise.
I agree with you that IT is developing into diretction of cloud Services, and I also think this law should be changed, but as for today we need to respect the current law situation.
You might be right but that's a totally unhelpful intervention, in a thread already full of unhelpful interventions and irrelevant and unsolicited advice.
If people want to do it on-premise, let them. These are two-decades-ago problems that we should not be returning to in 2020.
And for what it's worth Microsoft seem to agree, since they are (however slowly) implementing it.
- It is a bit of topic but I find it this "Federal Healthcare Laws make it impossible for us to synchronize those favorites into the cloud." really hard to believe. This would mean that all IT solutions used in your country in the future are in a dead end.
What you need is a E3 contract with Microsoft, or a Educational contract if you are a Uni as well. This will you be able to sign a "processor agreement" according the GPDR, which will cover your privacy of employees and patients, Hello. We are in a similar situation. I work for a hospital in Bavaria with >10.000 workstations. And we also need a solution to synchronize the individual user favorites in Chromium Edge Browser. The desired result is that a user who changes his favorites on workstation A can also access his personal favorites on workstation B.
Federal Healthcare Laws make it impossible for us to synchronize those favorites into the cloud. And we also refuse to synchronize a whole profile including cache with >100 MB when we just need a solution for Favorites/Bookmarks.
I tried with Edge Beta 85.0.564.30 and the GPO "Enable using roaming copies for Microsoft Edge profile data" and "Roaming Profile Location", but it also doesn't work.
- doesn't work in Edge Beta 85.0.564.23
I would be interested in this as well.
Have their been any updates on this in the past month?
There's a lot of discussion going on here. I read this as it's not officially supported, but can be turned on with a "secret trick." We're very interested in this feature and would love to have our hands at testing it.
Is there a way to get in on the testing of this? Are the settings documented to enable the roaming profile support & roaming profile location?
We're very interested in getting this in our labs and would love to include this in our deployments of Edge.
sheffieldc From what I saw the relevant policies/registry keys have been discussed, with the majority of people being unable to get it to run.
The pilot exists since v83 was the canary version and the feature has made it to v83 stable, but .. afaik even with the correct registry keys you will not be able to get it to work, since it isn't enabled by just the registry keys at this point in time.
In other news, while v83 stable and v84 beta currently work .. dev and canary are currently crashing on start when you have the roaming profile registry keys configured, regardless of whether you enabled the roaming support through the "secret trick".
