Beta Channel is now open

Bronze Contributor

I see that the Beta channel is now open.  Good news.  We have made it through the earliest stages of development now, and we can look forward to release in the next few months, possibly late this year but  more likely in 2020.  I expect several Beta updates (about six weeks apart) before moving to Stable.

 

The current Beta release is less full-featured than the current Dev release (for example, tracking prevention requires users to set a flag) because (as I understand it), Beta includes only those features/functions that are considered solid enough for daily use.

10 Replies

Oh yeah there it is. Pretty awesome. 

 

I'm hooked on Canary so I'll just stick with that as whatever Beta has or doesn't has Canary already had or didn't have it or had that didn't make it to dev or beta hehe.

Is there a way to import tabs/history/settings from Edge dev or Edge canary into Edge Beta channel? Only import options right now are for Edge browser.
I agree. This is a major negative. I hope the final release version lets us move everything over from Dev or will install over the Dev version. Not looking forward to redoing all customizations, reinstalling add-ons, etc.

If it follows the path of Canary and Developer and/or Google Chromes Canary, Developer, Beta, Stable than the Beta version won't install over the Developer or Canary version. It will be it's own self standing browser that can be used along side the others beta versions. Which of course is how it should be for those that want to use all three Edge beta's interchangeable, but separate from each other for testing purposes. You can have all three separate Edge versions if you want and use them independent as if they're three separate browsers. Of course you probably already know that but just saying because some people new to this who are only using one version right now (Canary for Developer) might believe by downloading Beta it will delete or over install over Canary which it won't. Firefox does the same thing with their Firefox Nightly and Beta and Stable version (you can have and use all three).

 

I don't know if Edge will allow you to convert your settings from Developer/Canary to Beta. If so that would be good. If not than simply go into Beta and set it up how you wish.  Google Chrome doesn't convert over your settings from Canary/Developer/Beta over into their Stable version or your Stable version over to Canary/Developer/Beta if you decide to try those out. It's not really a negative. Maybe a good option to add but if not I don't see it as a negative as you can set up one browswer (lets say Edge Canary) to be setted one way, and Edge Beta to be setted another way. 

 

(I'm under the impression once the Stable version is release Edge will still continue to have their Insider Beta, Dev, Canary channels like Google Chrome has done with theirs since 2011 so people can still continue to be beta testers of different levels). 

@florsignol   When I installed Beta I got a screen asking me if I wanted to "bring things over" or "start fresh".  Those weren't the words on the buttons, but that was the gist.  I chose "start fresh" and everything snapped into place -- Favorites Bar, Other Favorites, Settings and so on. 

 

I was going to try to get a screenshot of the buttons for you, so I installed Canary as well a few minutes ago.  I didn't get any buttons, but when I opened Canary, everything was there.

 

I didn't expect that, but that happens for me when I install a new version.  So try uninstalling Beta, and then installing it again and see what happens.

 

I also notice that Favorites sync to one another across the three versions.  When I add/subtract a Favorite from one version, it syncs to the other versions.  I suspect that is because all versions point to the same syncing account, tied to my MSA.

 

@Anthony "I'm under the impression once the Stable version is release Edge will still continue to have their Insider Beta, Dev, Canary channels like Google Chrome has done with theirs since 2011 so people can still continue to be beta testers of different levels."

 

That's my understanding, too.

@florsignol@LRCROW I was able to copy those over by copying my profile folder from Dev to Beta. So far it seems to be working fine with full access to my history from Dev. I had to manually update my pinned sites, as they are linked to Dev folder. Had to edit the links and change "Dev" to "Beta".

 

Assuming you are using the Default profile:

1. Close both Edge Dev and Edge Beta.

2. Under "C:\Users\{userfolder}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge Beta\User Data\" backup the Default folder.

3. Under "C:\Users\{userfolder}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge Beta\User Data\" delete the Default folder.

4. Under "C:\Users\{userfolder}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge Dev\User Data\" copy the Default folder to "C:\Users\{userfolder}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge Beta\User Data\".

5. Launch Edge Beta. You should have access to all your history.

 

Update: There is a "Edge Profile.png/ico" file in there that is used for the Taskbar icon. Copying the entire folder resulted in the Dev icon showing for Beta Edge. I guess there may be other things like this that is unknown. So far other than the icon, haven't seen any other issue. An alternative is to just copy History* files.

@tomscharbach -- Yeah. I like Canary and beta testing the raw stuff before it hits even the other later beta channels, I hate to see it go away. Google has their four channels on android too for people to use. All four versions...I guess that's one way to market a product...give four options to choose from instead of just one haha. 


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less full-featured than the current Dev release

 

Does it mean that sync is disabled again? Oh no :( . Back to Dev :(

 

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Edit: Restarting browser 15 minutes later fixed the issue... Oh Microsoft :lol:

 

@tojtojka Thanks for reporting this. While we are happy that sync recovered for you and is working fine now, if you face any other issue with sync, please do report using in-app feedback. That allows us to collect diagnostic data and debug the issue. Thank you for helping make Edge a great browser.