Introducing the new downloads experience

[William Devereux]

The new Microsoft Edge recently turned one year old, over the last year we’ve heard your feedback about the downloads experience. While there’s a lot you liked, a common criticism was that it was often hard to notice new downloads in the tray at the bottom of the window. Closing the tray to clear up screen real estate also prevented you from monitoring your download progress, and it was difficult to get back to your downloads later. Today, we’re thrilled to introduce a major update to downloads which should address all of this feedback and more. 

When you start a download, a new menu will now appear in the top-right corner with all your active downloads in one place. This menu is easily dismissible so you can continue browsing uninterrupted. Best of all, you can monitor your overall download progress right from the toolbar thanks to the new progress ring on the downloads button.

Simply click on the downloads button at any time to view all your downloads again. You can hover over or right-click on files in the list to pause, restart, or cancel a download. You can also select See more to view and manage your past downloads as well. And as with the recently updated experiences for favorites, history, and as of today Collections, you can even pin () the downloads menu open so you can monitor your downloads in detail while you browse. 

The downloads button will remain in the toolbar until all the downloads have finished, at which point the progress ring will change into a green checkmark. Simply open the menu to see your finished downloads and hide the downloads button again. 

If you haven’t downloaded a file recently, you can still access the new downloads menu from the Settings and More menu (). And in response to overwhelming feedback, you can finally choose to always show the downloads button on the toolbar for one-click access even when you aren't in the process of downloading a file. 

For those of you who prefer a more immersive view of your downloads, you can easily get back to the downloads page by selecting Manage downloads in the downloads menu () or typing edge://downloads in the address bar. 

We’re so excited to hear what you think of the new downloads experience, which is currently available in the Canary and Dev channels. Please send us your thoughts by submitting feedback in-app and in the comments below.  

— William Devereux, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Edge  

[#2]

This is probably one of the best developments of this browser so far.

Usability of this new menu is really good and all the optional buttons to manipulate the downloaded file are great.

Top job!

[#3]

@William Devereux This is probably one of my favorite new features EVER (besides vertical tabs:)). Thank you so much, Microsoft Edge team!

[#4]

@William Devereux 

Pretty nice feature, but can you please improve it for touch users, meaning that the options for each downloaded file (like redo, open folder and delete) are displayed by default, so that you don't have to hoover or tap it to see them.

I already deleted two entries by mistake because I tapped on the wrong empty space where the delete symbol is hidden.

Thanks :)

[#5]

@William Devereux for those of us who need to download several files per day, documents, images, etc, it's a nuisance as it covers the page. Very bad UX. 

Offer an option to get rid of the flyout.... and use the old unobstructive bottom bar. 

[#6]

@Solero 

there are options for that

[#7]

@William Devereux I DO LOVE THIS NEW DOWNLOADS EXPERIENCE!

But, sometimes I need to scroll up 1 or 2 lines to see a new download progress bar.

[#8]

Thank you @HotCakeX but this is not an option. It's a blindfold. 

The horizontal bar interferes with nothing, is not distracting nor does it need scrolling huge lengths or extra clicking to grab what you need. Not to mention it stays on the page you clicked for the download. This new flyout is a usability downgrade. 

[#9]

@HotCakeXThat option doesn't revert you back to the downloads bar, but instead means no download is shown at all. There needs to be an option to disable the new menu completely and revert back to the bar which provided a much more intuitive experience.

[#10]

@NK_07 Completely agree with this. A common workflow for me is downloading 2-3 PDFs from our CRM and dragging them directly from the downloads bar into a draft email in Outlook. This new way of working really slows me down (enough to go back to Chrome fairly soon).

[#11]

@smalljoshua  It messed with my workflow too. I was able to disable and revert to the old bar  by adding this at the end of Edge target

-disable-features=msDownloadsHub

[#12]

@arturs_dob  It messed with my workflow too. I was able to disable and revert to the old bar  by adding this at the end of Edge target

-disable-features=msDownloadsHub

[#13]

@smalljoshua Yes I would also love to see the ability to drag files from the download manager into other apps return!

I've also found that when I click on the downloads button, I'm not at the top of the list, and I need to scroll up a couple of lines before I'm at the top of the list of files, as below.

[#14]

@Solero 

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@Solero wrote:

Thank you @HotCakeX but this is not an option. It's a blindfold. 

The horizontal bar interferes with nothing, is not distracting nor does it need scrolling huge lengths or extra clicking to grab what you need. Not to mention it stays on the page you clicked for the download. This new flyout is a usability downgrade. 

---

it's Not.

you said

"for those of us who need to download several files per day, documents, images, etc, it's a nuisance as it covers the page."

those options make the downloads silent without the flyout appearing on the screen.

downloads bar is very old, Chrome has it for years and i wouldn't be surprised if they copied Edge and did the same thing. 

[#15]

@arturs_dob 

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@arturs_dob wrote:

@HotCakeXThat option doesn't revert you back to the downloads bar, but instead means no download is shown at all. There needs to be an option to disable the new menu completely and revert back to the bar which provided a much more intuitive experience.

---

I never said it would revert back to the old download bar that appears at the bottom of the screen.

instead of talking broadly about things, why not just mention precise ways to improve the new downloads flyout experience.

I definitely don't want to go back to the old download bar at the bottom.

[#16]

@smalljoshua 

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@smalljoshua wrote:

@NK_07 Completely agree with this. A common workflow for me is downloading 2-3 PDFs from our CRM and dragging them directly from the downloads bar into a draft email in Outlook. This new way of working really slows me down (enough to go back to Chrome fairly soon).

---

You can do as you wish,

"add drag & drop functionality to the new downloads flyout"

that's the suggestion you are making and you should send it using the feedback button on Edge if you want it to be implemented.

[#17]

@ttsoldier 

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@ttsoldier wrote:

@arturs_dob  It messed with my workflow too. I was able to disable and revert to the old bar  by adding this at the end of Edge target

-disable-features=msDownloadsHub

---

You want to see drag & drop on the new downloads flyout too? send this suggesting using the feedback button on Edge.

the more people request it using that tool = the sooner it will be implemented.

[#18]

@jackson1510 

Spoiler

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@jackson1510 wrote:

@smalljoshua Yes I would also love to see the ability to drag files from the download manager into other apps return!

I've also found that when I click on the downloads button, I'm not at the top of the list, and I need to scroll up a couple of lines before I'm at the top of the list of files, as below.

---

Hi,

please submit this problem and drag and drop suggesting using the feedback button on Edge, I just did it from my browser :)

press Edge's (...) menu => Help and feedback => Send feedback

[#19]

@eduardobragaxz

I think @HotCakeX has point. We should be allowed to pin the collection to the side of our window and Edge should remember this preference the next time we open it. No harm with that. Anyways I like the new fly-out so I'll prefer that.

[#20]

@HotCakeX 

"those options make the downloads silent without the flyout appearing on the screen.

downloads bar is very old, Chrome has it for years and i wouldn't be surprised if they copied Edge and did the same thing. "

I do not need them silent.
I need them to not interfere with my browsing AND observe the progress of my download request. 
That is what the bar achieves. The flyout does not. 

As for being "old" well... that is hardly an argument really. There are so many things that are "old" (i.e. the task bar) that does not mean they need to be replaced if they serve their purpose 100% and nobody has a problem with them. Improved yes, replaced by something inferior no. That is the very definition of regression. 

What problem does the new UI design solve?
This is the key question every designer needs to make before replacing a feature.

A suggestion was made to pin the flyout on the side.
Not a very good suggestion as it takes A LOT more space than the discreet and slim bar at the bottom of the page. 

[#21]

@Solero 

Spoiler

---

@Solero wrote:

@HotCakeX 

"those options make the downloads silent without the flyout appearing on the screen.

downloads bar is very old, Chrome has it for years and i wouldn't be surprised if they copied Edge and did the same thing. "

I do not need them silent.
I need them to not interfere with my browsing AND observe the progress of my download request. 
That is what the bar achieves. The flyout does not. 

As for being "old" well... that is hardly an argument really. There are so many things that are "old" (i.e. the task bar) that does not mean they need to be replaced if they serve their purpose 100% and nobody has a problem with them. Improved yes, replaced by something inferior no. That is the very definition of regression. 

What problem does the new UI design solve?
This is the key question every designer needs to make before replacing a feature.

A suggestion was made to pin the flyout on the side.
Not a very good suggestion as it takes A LOT more space than the discreet and slim bar at the bottom of the page. 

---

Okay let me explain again, because what you are looking for does exist in Edge right now.

just go here please and turn off these 2 options

now download a file.

you said 1)you don't want it to interfere with your browsing and 2) see the download progress.

this is happening right now on my screen. 

if you turn off those 2 options, and then you download something, nothing appears on your screen to interfere with your work.

and you can see the progress at the top, in a modern style. when that circle is full it means the download is finished and you get another small indication.

The pin icon that you are referring to, it already exist, we can already pin all of these new flyouts to the side, if we wish to. again, it causes absolutely no trouble for those who don't want to do this.

all I and other were saying is that, when we decide to Pin a flyout to make a sidebar out of it, we want this to be remembered, so that the next time we click on history or download icon, we don't have to Pin it again and again. because right now it is not remembered and it's very repetitive to click/tap on Pin icon every single time.

this design is better because it doesn't occupy unnecessary space at the bottom like downloads bar used to do.