A heads up about Edge Classic Sync

I stripped down my favorites in Edge Classic on my primary computer (which has both Edge Classic and Edge Chromium installed) this morning, leaving just the Favorites Bar and a few essential bookmarks.

I waited an hour for the stripped down favorites on the primary computer to sync through to my MS account. I then opened up Edge Classic on my two Windows laptops (both of which have both Edge Classic and Edge Chromium installed). The Edge Classic favorites did not sync at all on either laptop.

My default browser in each case is Edge Chromium.

Sync works fine on Edge Chromium (I renamed some favorites in Edge Chromium on my desktop and the changes sync'ed to both laptop computers within minutes).

It looks like my MS Account is now linked to Edge Chromium, and that sync no longer works on Edge Classic. That's fine with me (I'm using Edge Chromium as my primary browser going forward, and not planning to use Edge Classic any more except to compare features/functions as needed to isolated bugs/issues), but I thought I should let people know.

I was wondering how MS was handling sync with two versions of the Edge Browser. Now I know, I think. MS syncs one or the other browser (in my case Edge Classic), but not both.

Version 74.1.96.24 (Official build) dev (64-bit)

tomscharbach
Apr 23, 2019
@akhator I just recieved confirmation from Microsoft Support that the support lead replicated the issue of Edge Classic installed on one computer failing to sync with Edge Classic on another computer when both Edge Classic and Edge Chromium are installed on the two computers. The lead also told me that the issue is going to be submitted to additional teams for review and resolution. The issue is tricky to test and isolate, but I am now confident that MS is aware of the issue and working on it.

This is probably not an issue for most Edge Chromium Insiders because few are doing what I am doing, testing Edge Chromium on three computers to allow me to compare performance in high-end, mid-range and low-end computing environments.

When Edge Chromium replaces Edge Classic, the problem will, of course, go away. But it is likely to take months for Edge Chromium to be released, and so the issue is something to be aware of as you test.

tomscharbach
Bronze Contributor
Apr 15, 2019
A correction:

I was wondering how MS was handling sync with two versions of the Edge Browser. Now I know, I think. MS syncs one or the other browser (in my case Edge Classic), but not both.

should read:

I was wondering how MS was handling sync with two versions of the Edge Browser. Now I know, I think. MS syncs one or the other browser (in my case Edge Chromium), but not both.

Version 74.1.96.24 (Official build) dev (64-bit)
- akhator
  Microsoft
  Apr 20, 2019
  tomscharbach Thanks for your feedback. Edge Insider preview builds (Edge-Chromium) is not expected to sync with the earlier Edge (what you called Edge-classic). If you have Edge Insider preview builds installed on multiple devices, they all should cross-sync fine.
  
  You should be able to import your favorites from Edge-classic to the Edge preview build. Also note that we currently support only favorites sync and are actively working on enabling other attributes.
  - tomscharbach
    Bronze Contributor
    Apr 20, 2019
    akhator Thanks for the response. This is a non-issue, but I want to make sure that your response doesn't confuse anyone about the nature of the issue.
    
    The issue isn't that Edge Dev and Edge Classic/Spartan/Old/Stable (or whatever you want to call it) don't sync to one another. The two are distinct browsers and shouldn't sync with one another, any more than Edge should sync with Firefox or Chrome or Vivaldi.
    
    The issue is that since I installed Edge Dev on my three computers, Edge Dev syncs flawlessly across the three computers, but Edge Classic/Spartan/Old/Stable (which is also installed on those three computers) doesn't sync across the three computers at all.
    
    To put it in simpler terms, when I make a change in my Edge Dev favorites on one of my computers, the change syncs to the other two computers in 30-60 seconds. However, when I make a change in my Edge Classic/Spartan/Old/Stable favorites on one of my computers, the change does not sync to any of the other computers at all.
    
    Background: As part of the installation process for Edge Dev on my desktop, I imported my Edge favorites, and subsequently reorganized them to work in Edge Dev. After that was accomplished, I installed Edge Dev on the other two computers without importing, and then synced the two laptops to the desktop. Worked perfectly, just as it does when I do a clean Windows install, log into my MSA and open Edge. After I had tested Edge Dev enough to determine that it was stable enough for primary use, I stripped out most of the Edge Classic favorites (keeping just the ones I use daily) from my desktop, and opened Edge Classic on my two laptops, expecting Edge Classic to sync to the laptops, as it always had. It didn't, so I tested some more, making changes in the favorites on one or the other computer, to ensure that I wasn't just imagining something. Edge Classic no longer syncs across computers. I also checked to see if Edge on my Android devices synced to Edge Classic on my computers, and that didn't work anymore, either.
    
    I suspect that what is going on is this: A Microsoft Account is not set up to sync two versions of the Edge browser, but instead can sync only one of the two browsers, and is set to sync Edge Dev rather than Edge Classic as a default.
    
    This doesn't make a difference to me, because I'm not planning on using Edge Classic going forward. It is not an issue that I reported to Feedback, and it is not an issue that I want the Edge team to waste a single brain cell on trying to solve.
    
    I mentioned it solely as a "heads up" to other testers.
tomscharbach
Bronze Contributor
Apr 22, 2019
@akhator I've completed testing and have reached a preliminary conclusion that Edge Dev prevents Edge Classic from syncing between computers if both Edge Dev and Edge Classic sync through the same MSA. Uninstalling Edge Dev on an affected computer allows the computer to sync Edge Classic again.

I am attaching the test summary describing the issue for anyone who is interested.

I have reported the problem both through the Feedback button and though Edge Support, as you requested. Thank you for your effort on this issue.
EDGE SYNC TESTING.pdf62 KB
- tomscharbach
  Bronze Contributor
  Apr 23, 2019
  @akhator I just recieved confirmation from Microsoft Support that the support lead replicated the issue of Edge Classic installed on one computer failing to sync with Edge Classic on another computer when both Edge Classic and Edge Chromium are installed on the two computers. The lead also told me that the issue is going to be submitted to additional teams for review and resolution. The issue is tricky to test and isolate, but I am now confident that MS is aware of the issue and working on it.
  
  This is probably not an issue for most Edge Chromium Insiders because few are doing what I am doing, testing Edge Chromium on three computers to allow me to compare performance in high-end, mid-range and low-end computing environments.
  
  When Edge Chromium replaces Edge Classic, the problem will, of course, go away. But it is likely to take months for Edge Chromium to be released, and so the issue is something to be aware of as you test.
  - akhator
    Microsoft
    Apr 23, 2019
    tomscharbach Thank you for all your effort and due diligence. We will look into this further.

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A heads up about Edge Classic Sync

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