Hello insiders, today we’re releasing build 79.0.287.2 to the Dev Channel! There’s a lot in here, but we’re most excited to announce two long-awaited features: media autoplay blocking, and a more customizable new tab page! You can find the media autoplay blocking setting under edge://settings/content/mediaAutoplay. While you’re in Settings, you may also want to check out some additions to Tracking Prevention. We now offer a list of all the trackers we’ve ever blocked, as well as a page of exceptions that will allow you to better customize your Tracking Prevention behavior. On the new tab page, there are four big new features, some of which you’ve been asking for. First, the new tab page now supports dark theme. Next, you can scroll through previous Bing images of the day using the arrows at the bottom left of the page. While you’re scrolling, if you scroll down to the news feed, you’ll see that we added more personalization options. And finally, if you don’t want to see the news feed at all, now you don’t have to, because we added the option to turn it completely off! In addition to those features, some of the other major changes that are worth mentioning include: New features: Re-added a prompt to enable Windows location settings if a site requests location permissions but OS-level location settings are disabled. Enabled changing font size in Reading View. Added middle click support to Collections items. Added a tooltip to long Collection titles. Added error messaging for when another program is preventing Edge from installing an update. Added a policy to control the Renderer Code Integrity feature (see https://textslashplain.com/2019/09/27/aw-snap-every-tab-crashes/). Improved reliability: Fixed a crash on launch. Fixed an issue where Edge on Mac crashes when it checks for updates. Fixed an issue where opening certain PDFs causes the tab to crash. Fixed an issue where some PDF files don’t load properly. Fixed an issue where downloading pages of a PDF that’s being viewed sometimes hangs. Fixed an issue where tabs sometimes hang during navigation. Fixed an issue where page translation via the built-in translator sometimes fails silently. Fixed an issue where opening all Collection items sometimes crashes the browser. Fixed an issue where watching certain videos in full screen causes playback to freeze. Fixed some issues where enabling sync settings sometimes crashes the browser. Fixed an issue where Sync was not working and showed an error next to the profile button on the toolbar. Fixed an issue where syncing is stuck in the “Setting up your sync…” state. Improved reliability of sync for work or school accounts over unreliable network connections. Fixed some sign-in errors that occur when signing into the browser with a work or school account. Fixed an issue on Mac where syncing for work or school accounts doesn’t work. Fixed an issue where trying to import data from the same browser multiple times fails on the subsequent attempts. Improved the performance and results when searching for Edge settings. Fixed an issue where importing data from another browser can sometimes cause the tab to crash. Fixed an issue where certain settings aren’t imported correctly from the previous version of Edge. Fixed an issue where certain audio playback doesn’t work. Changed behavior: Fixed an issue where the icons for the buttons on the toolbar like the back button or the … menu aren’t centered in the button. Fixed an issue where a new taskbar shortcut is created when Edge is updated to a newer version even though there’s already an existing shortcut. Fixed an issue where the X button to close a tab is incorrectly placed when tab sizes are sufficiently small. Fixed an issue where the X button to close a tab sometimes stays highlighted even when it’s not being interacted with. Fixed an issue where the hover state of the X button to close a tab is too big. Fixed an issue where the address bar theming is too dark in dark theme. Fixed an issue where the ESC key minimizes Edge on Mac when it shouldn’t. Fixed an issue where the F12 Dev Tools sometimes don’t use the proper theme on Mac. Fixed an issue where some context menu items in the F12 Dev Tools appear twice. Fixed an issue where some UI overlaps in the F12 Dev Tools. Fixed an issue where some sections of the edge://accessibility page are missing. Fixed an issue where websites installed as Apps don’t properly respond to changes in the browser’s theme. Fixed an issue where websites installed as Apps sometimes aren’t removed from every list in the browser when they’re uninstalled. Fixed an issue where the “Continue running background apps when Microsoft Edge is closed” setting is missing on Mac. Fixed an issue where feedback screenshots that are cropped become much lower quality. Fixed an issue where the “Save and Include” button on the feedback diagnostic data windows isn’t visible. Fixed an issue where context menus sometimes don’t close when switching tabs. Fixed an issue where the tab favicon sometimes isn’t shown in Reading View. Fixed an issue where the ESC key doesn’t cause Read Aloud to exit. Fixed an issue where copying text from a Collection into another program copies the underlying HTML code instead of just the text. Fixed an issue where Collections created through the context menu don’t show any confirmation that the collection is created. Fixed an issue where Application Guard windows don’t use dark theme even though the rest of the browser does. Fixed an issue where Application Guard windows don’t have their tabs restored when Edge is restarted. Updated the … menu in Application Guard windows to clarify that the Exit option will only close Application Guard windows. Fixed an issue where Application Guard windows unexpectedly open up when the browser is launched. Fixed an issue where the Sync page in Settings briefly shows incorrectly after confirming the settings. Fixed an issue where the PDF toolbar is still visible when it shouldn’t be. Fixed an issue where text selection in PDFs selects an extra character. Fixed an issue where the retry button on deleted downloads appears to be disabled. Fixed an issue where Flash settings are sometimes not properly displayed. Fixed an issue where context menus on the Settings page sometimes don’t dismiss properly. Fixed an issue where multiple context menus appeared on certain Settings pages. Fixed an issue where certain settings unexpectedly become disabled. Fixed an issue where the Delete Browsing Data popup is sometimes missing some of its contents. Fixed an issue where the link to the Extensions store was missing on the Extensions page when no Extensions are installed. Fixed an issue where the Print Preview window was too small. Temporarily disabled Sync for work and school accounts for outdated versions of Edge on Mac and downlevel Windows. We expect to have one or two minor additions to this Dev build later this week which will increase the final part of the version number, but there shouldn’t be any new features added in those updates. And until next week, thank you all for using Edge and for sending us all your feedback and suggestions!

josh_bodner The updates to the New Tab page are great, but in my personal opinion there is still one area where the New Tab page is sorely lacking - the quick links themselves. There is still no way to rearrange tiles, rename tiles, or have more than 7 tiles active at once. The lack of those 3 core features undermines the usability of quick links quite a lot, as I (and many others) tend to use them for a curated list of very frequently visited sites. This serves a different purpose than the bookmarks bar and menus, but is very difficult to make good use of so far in Edge: Being unable to rearrange tiles makes organization and spatial orientation more difficult, and if you accidentally unpin a tile (happens with some frequency) you can't get it back to the place it was without manually removing all other tiles past it and then re-adding them all, which is very time-consuming and frustrating.Being unable to rename tiles means that more often than not the title is basically just "https://www." and then a couple characters from the site - forcing you to identify sites by their favicon alone. Several tiles from the same site are even more unclear.Limiting the selection to 7 tiles (the "plus"/add tile never goes away) doesn't make a lot of sense when there is already a ton of whitespace present and the ability exists to hide other elements on this page. It would make sense to approach it the way Firefox does, with a default of a single row but a toggleable option to simply show more tiles.I do realize Edge is not pursuing customization at any cost in the sense that say, Vivaldi does - but I don't think there's a need for advanced features here like tile folders, custom icons or anything like that - just a solid, core feature set that makes the New Tab tiles actually usable rather than just keeping them for the sake of feature parity. For what it's worth, Chrome has been terrible at this for a long time as well (recently starting to get a bit better) - whereas Firefox, Vivaldi and Opera have always handled the New Tab tiles in a very useful manner. Thank you for your time!

josh_bodner Sounds great, keep up the good work! Can't wait to use (stable) edge at my office as well.

Has anyone ever had any successful experience where autoplay blocking actually blocks a video or media from being played automatically?I've tested it on Many websites (set to block) and had no luck so far.https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Discussions/Autoplay-blocking-does-Not-work-on-YouTube/m-p/880806

josh_bodner Is Microsoft going to incorporate a stronger ad blocker in upcoming builds? If not, then this is an unusually titled item "Ads - block / allow" under Site Permissions. When this is enabled, a tiny fraction of ads are blocked for normal users. This Setting toggle has gotta be renamed to "Intrusive ads" (and someone at MS should define "intrusive" so users know what this setting actually does), if more ad blocking isn't coming. Just my two cents.

josh_bodner Thank you for team's work! A special thank you for the Autoplay!!! Keep it coming!

Forum Discussion

josh_bodner

Silver Contributor

Oct 01, 2019

Dev channel update to 79.0.287.2 is live

Hello insiders, today we’re releasing build 79.0.287.2 to the Dev Channel! There’s a lot in here, but we’re most excited to announce two long-awaited features: media autoplay blocking, and a more customizable new tab page!

You can find the media autoplay blocking setting under edge://settings/content/mediaAutoplay. While you’re in Settings, you may also want to check out some additions to Tracking Prevention. We now offer a list of all the trackers we’ve ever blocked, as well as a page of exceptions that will allow you to better customize your Tracking Prevention behavior.

On the new tab page, there are four big new features, some of which you’ve been asking for. First, the new tab page now supports dark theme. Next, you can scroll through previous Bing images of the day using the arrows at the bottom left of the page. While you’re scrolling, if you scroll down to the news feed, you’ll see that we added more personalization options. And finally, if you don’t want to see the news feed at all, now you don’t have to, because we added the option to turn it completely off!

In addition to those features, some of the other major changes that are worth mentioning include:

New features:

Re-added a prompt to enable Windows location settings if a site requests location permissions but OS-level location settings are disabled.
Enabled changing font size in Reading View.
Added middle click support to Collections items.
Added a tooltip to long Collection titles.
Added error messaging for when another program is preventing Edge from installing an update.
Added a policy to control the Renderer Code Integrity feature (see https://textslashplain.com/2019/09/27/aw-snap-every-tab-crashes/).

Improved reliability:

Fixed a crash on launch.
Fixed an issue where Edge on Mac crashes when it checks for updates.
Fixed an issue where opening certain PDFs causes the tab to crash.
Fixed an issue where some PDF files don’t load properly.
Fixed an issue where downloading pages of a PDF that’s being viewed sometimes hangs.
Fixed an issue where tabs sometimes hang during navigation.
Fixed an issue where page translation via the built-in translator sometimes fails silently.
Fixed an issue where opening all Collection items sometimes crashes the browser.
Fixed an issue where watching certain videos in full screen causes playback to freeze.
Fixed some issues where enabling sync settings sometimes crashes the browser.
Fixed an issue where Sync was not working and showed an error next to the profile button on the toolbar.
Fixed an issue where syncing is stuck in the “Setting up your sync…” state.
Improved reliability of sync for work or school accounts over unreliable network connections.
Fixed some sign-in errors that occur when signing into the browser with a work or school account.
Fixed an issue on Mac where syncing for work or school accounts doesn’t work.
Fixed an issue where trying to import data from the same browser multiple times fails on the subsequent attempts.
Improved the performance and results when searching for Edge settings.
Fixed an issue where importing data from another browser can sometimes cause the tab to crash.
Fixed an issue where certain settings aren’t imported correctly from the previous version of Edge.
Fixed an issue where certain audio playback doesn’t work.

Changed behavior:

Fixed an issue where the icons for the buttons on the toolbar like the back button or the … menu aren’t centered in the button.
Fixed an issue where a new taskbar shortcut is created when Edge is updated to a newer version even though there’s already an existing shortcut.
Fixed an issue where the X button to close a tab is incorrectly placed when tab sizes are sufficiently small.
Fixed an issue where the X button to close a tab sometimes stays highlighted even when it’s not being interacted with.
Fixed an issue where the hover state of the X button to close a tab is too big.
Fixed an issue where the address bar theming is too dark in dark theme.
Fixed an issue where the ESC key minimizes Edge on Mac when it shouldn’t.
Fixed an issue where the F12 Dev Tools sometimes don’t use the proper theme on Mac.
Fixed an issue where some context menu items in the F12 Dev Tools appear twice.
Fixed an issue where some UI overlaps in the F12 Dev Tools.
Fixed an issue where some sections of the edge://accessibility page are missing.
Fixed an issue where websites installed as Apps don’t properly respond to changes in the browser’s theme.
Fixed an issue where websites installed as Apps sometimes aren’t removed from every list in the browser when they’re uninstalled.
Fixed an issue where the “Continue running background apps when Microsoft Edge is closed” setting is missing on Mac.
Fixed an issue where feedback screenshots that are cropped become much lower quality.
Fixed an issue where the “Save and Include” button on the feedback diagnostic data windows isn’t visible.
Fixed an issue where context menus sometimes don’t close when switching tabs.
Fixed an issue where the tab favicon sometimes isn’t shown in Reading View.
Fixed an issue where the ESC key doesn’t cause Read Aloud to exit.
Fixed an issue where copying text from a Collection into another program copies the underlying HTML code instead of just the text.
Fixed an issue where Collections created through the context menu don’t show any confirmation that the collection is created.
Fixed an issue where Application Guard windows don’t use dark theme even though the rest of the browser does.
Fixed an issue where Application Guard windows don’t have their tabs restored when Edge is restarted.
Updated the … menu in Application Guard windows to clarify that the Exit option will only close Application Guard windows.
Fixed an issue where Application Guard windows unexpectedly open up when the browser is launched.
Fixed an issue where the Sync page in Settings briefly shows incorrectly after confirming the settings.
Fixed an issue where the PDF toolbar is still visible when it shouldn’t be.
Fixed an issue where text selection in PDFs selects an extra character.
Fixed an issue where the retry button on deleted downloads appears to be disabled.
Fixed an issue where Flash settings are sometimes not properly displayed.
Fixed an issue where context menus on the Settings page sometimes don’t dismiss properly.
Fixed an issue where multiple context menus appeared on certain Settings pages.
Fixed an issue where certain settings unexpectedly become disabled.
Fixed an issue where the Delete Browsing Data popup is sometimes missing some of its contents.
Fixed an issue where the link to the Extensions store was missing on the Extensions page when no Extensions are installed.
Fixed an issue where the Print Preview window was too small.
Temporarily disabled Sync for work and school accounts for outdated versions of Edge on Mac and downlevel Windows.

We expect to have one or two minor additions to this Dev build later this week which will increase the final part of the version number, but there shouldn’t be any new features added in those updates. And until next week, thank you all for using Edge and for sending us all your feedback and suggestions!

89 Replies

tgienger
Brass Contributor
Nov 06, 2019
josh_bodner

Where do I start?

Scrollbar overlay is still broken. I don't have the overlay scrollbar as I had it turned on previously and the option to turn it on is still missing.

Scrolling is broken to **bleep** again, feels like the old Edge (BAD) and the last time I had this problem I disabled "experimental smooth scrolling" or something like that and THAT flag is also missing.

Are these changes meant to be this way or typical development woes? I'm genuinely curious because I totally understand development (game developer) and things can and will go wrong, but if these changes are planned, well, I'm out.
- Drew1903
  Silver Contributor
  Nov 06, 2019
  tgienger
  
  Well, this is peculiar... I have the overlay scroll bars, just fine & without any flag.
  
  I, still, have the smooth-scrolling flag enabled.
  
  Cheers,
  Drew
  - tgienger
    Brass Contributor
    Nov 06, 2019
    alo should mention the "experimental" issue is in the most recent 80.x build. I posted in the wrong one.
matb86
Brass Contributor
Oct 07, 2019
"Fixed an issue where the ESC key minimizes Edge on Mac when it shouldn’t."

THANK YOU!!!! *removes Chrome from my daily workflow again*
smartgreenrobot
Brass Contributor
Oct 03, 2019
josh_bodner
Just got an dev channel update on 79.0.287.3.
What's the background? Signing issue once again?
- smartgreenrobot
  Brass Contributor
  Oct 03, 2019
  Sorry, my fault. You mentioned it in your post at the end.
André NOUN
Copper Contributor
Oct 03, 2019
All this is good, it's more than good, it's very good, it's more than very good, it's excellent, it's more than excellent, it's extra, it's more than extra, it's hyper! It's more than hyper, it's ... can't find a word! Thank you!
- WindowsUser
  Brass Contributor
  Oct 05, 2019
  André NOUN
  
  Next to 'hyper' is 'jumper'.!
- HotCakeX
  MVP
  Oct 03, 2019
  André NOUN wrote:
  All this is good, it's more than good, it's very good, it's more than very good, it's excellent, it's more than excellent, it's extra, it's more than extra, it's hyper! It's more than hyper, it's ... can't find a word! Thank you!
  
  André NOUN
  
  ~AMEN~
Yoneff
Iron Contributor
Oct 03, 2019
josh_bodner

Still no option to directly open a downloading file (without first saving it)
All other MS browsers support this feature.
- HotCakeX
  MVP
  Oct 03, 2019
  Yoneff
  Yoneff wrote:
  josh_bodner
  
  Still no option to directly open a downloading file (without first saving it)
  All other MS browsers support this feature.
  
  Yes it's like a Microsoft thing and this new Edge browser should get it too.
  this suggestion has been "under review" for 6 weeks on the list
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Discussions/Top-feedback-summary-for-October-1/m-p/886926
  hope developers make up their minds soon and change the status to "upcoming" instead.
- Drew1903
  Silver Contributor
  Oct 03, 2019
  Yoneff
  
  Yes, Upvote
  
  This is an absolute "MUST HAVE" / "MUST KEEP". Though, do remember, there is this in Edge C
  
  BUT, STILL, must have Run without saving, anywhere!
  
  Cheers,
  Drew
vctgomes
Iron Contributor
Oct 02, 2019
The chat service, Disqus, is being blocked for Microsoft Edge with the Tracking Prevention setted as Balanced. Every time when I'm in a site and I wanna write some comment I need to do login on Disqus again. The Disqus is in the Trackers locked page and I already tried unlocked this one, but it doesn't work.

I've seen too the Opened Tabs now can be synced with anothers devices, but the Microsoft Edge for Android doesn't have this option eligible.

I also would like change the Search Engine on the New Tab...

josh_bodner
- ikjadoon
  Bronze Contributor
  Oct 02, 2019
  HotCakeX cheers. Agreed!
  
  vctgomes Yes. There's something funky with Disqus and trackers. It drove me insane with Firefox. I don't know why either 1) Disqus' trackers are so intense, you can't even login OR 2) browsers do something unexpected with Disqus' trackers.
  
  I can't tell, honestly, which side is at fault. Is Disqus that intent on tracking us? As it's one of only websites I've visited whose login system just dies if you have tracking protection on (Firefox, Chromium Edge here, etc.).
TerryB280
Copper Contributor
Oct 02, 2019
josh_bodner
This all looks great. For the next update I'm hoping I can start using an external PDFs applications instead of the built in one. When I disable it the built in PDF reader and try to open a PDF from SharePoint I receive an error telling me to either download the file or enable the built in PDF reader. When I click on a PDF link in SharePoint it should load the file from SharePoint in Adobe Acrobat Reader without any downloading taking place.
- HotCakeX
  MVP
  Oct 02, 2019
  TerryB280
  
  Yes, other users have reported the same thing,
  currently the user downloads the PDF file, the finished download will show up at the bottom left corner of the browser, after clicking on the PDF it will be opened in the browser, Not with the default PDF viewer app. the user needs to go to the download location and from there double click on the file and open it with the default PDF viewer. this problem seems to be revolving mostly around PDF files. when I download an .mp3 audio file or .mkv, .mp4 video files and click on them, they will open in Groove music app and default video player app and Not in Edge browser (even though Edge can play all those files).
  
  it gets even worse and the user gets stuck in an error loop if this option is enabled:
AlmoWars
Copper Contributor
Oct 02, 2019
josh_bodner Update looks great and I love the O365 integration.
I want to implement the Edge browser at one of our customers as soon as a stable version is available.
They are using a Sharepoint 2013 and even with activated IE Mode I can't open the document libraries in the Windows Explorer.
Maybe some of you guys can help me with that.
Limyx826
Iron Contributor
Oct 02, 2019
What's this?
- HotCakeX
  MVP
  Oct 02, 2019
  Limyx826
  
  Version 79.0.287.2 (Official build) dev (64-bit)
  
  Try this:
  
  unpin the Dev icon from your taskbar
  go to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge Dev\Application"
  drag the Edge browser icon to the taskbar and "link" it. straight from that folder to the taskbar, nowhere else.
  click on the new icon to launch it, if a new Dev icon appears on the taskbar, pin it.
  - Limyx826
    Iron Contributor
    Oct 02, 2019
    Tried it unfortunately it didn't work.
Tom_Fox
Iron Contributor
Oct 02, 2019
josh_bodner

Thanks for fixing so many bugs!
One thing that bothers me is the "Site Permissions" settings page, frankly it's a mess. Trying to find a specific setting is difficult.

Can you either sort them alphabetically, or group the settings?

Content Control
Ads, Cookies, Flash, Images, JavaScript, Location, Media Autoplay, Notifications, Payment Handles, Popups, Protected Content, Zoom

Downloads
Automatic Downloads, Background Sync, Clipboard, Handlers, PDF documents, Unsandboxed plugin

Hardware
Camera, Mic, Motion Sensors, MIDI, USB