SOLVED

Ask Cortana / Ask Bing - Discussion

Microsoft

Hello Insiders! You have told us that you really want the Ask Cortana / Ask Bing feature in our next version of Microsoft Edge.

 

In the current version of Microsoft Edge, you can select text or click on an image and get a result from Cortana / Bing in a side panel, without leaving the page you are browsing.

 

We hear you and from your feedback we understand you would like similar contextual search functionality in a way that does not pull you out of your browsing flow.

 

We are investigating our ability to add this to the next version of Microsoft Edge and we would like to understand what makes this feature useful for you. 

 

How did you use this feature?  If you ever attempted to use Ask Cortana / Ask Bing and couldn’t get the answer you were looking for, what steps did you take, if any, to get the answer you were looking for?  

 

What aspects of the Ask Cortana experience do you like or appreciate?  What improvements would you like to see?

 

Please let us know, either in the comments below or by using the Send-A-Smile feedback. 

Thanks – Jared Brown and the Microsoft Edge Search Team

123 Replies

@AnphirAddoN 

 

Right..

 

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@AnphirAddoN 

Can add your name to the ever-growing list of countless people praising these same things & wanting them to be kept in Edge C.  Team needs to hear & know how important these things are & to so very many End Users and make sure these items & features continue!  And besides being handy Ask Cortana does a fine job and if not enough, at that point one can go on to Bing from there, if necessary.

Cheers,
Drew

Ask Cortana = Ask Bing = Ask Google, it's not AI. it's just a button that Any browser can have without Cortana. there are extensions that can do it.

so you need to look up the definition of artificial intelligence.

Microsoft shot their own leg by removing Cortana from Android.

I use it a little, but when I use it to check the information I'm reading, for example I'm reading about a TV series, and I want to know something or see a picture of an artist I don't know, so I use the feature to know the artist, This without leaving the page I'm reading, I also use to see the lyrics of the songs I listen to on youtube. I like the feature

@viniciusbezerra 

Vini, not only is it used & liked, but, you hit on the part that is a, really, BIG factor making it especially cool & appealing...

"This without leaving the page I'm reading", Vini

Cheers,
Drew

It can be done without Cortana

 

there is already these elements in the browser

 

search for "..." option

 

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Sidebar

 

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See what I mean?

they already made those 2 elements. they can just create another sidebar so the (search for "..." ) results will be shown in that sidebar, without the need for Cortana.

Cortana should be smarter than that.

Look, Opera has an extension for this, do they have Cortana or any kind of AI? Nope

https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/sidebar-for-googletm-search/

@HotCakeX I don't think reloading the tab would be necessary. When Edge Insider (or any web browser, for that matter) is restored down, (windowed, not maximized), it can be resized without having to be refreshed. I don't know if this is universally true; I almost always use Edge in side-by-side mode or maximized. 

@WolfIcefang 


@WolfIcefang wrote:

@HotCakeX I don't think reloading the tab would be necessary. When Edge Insider (or any web browser, for that matter) is restored down, (windowed, not maximized), it can be resized without having to be refreshed. I don't know if this is universally true; I almost always use Edge in side-by-side mode or maximized. 


 

Sorry i lost the track of that comment you replied to

Thanks, I must say which feature is very useful, it adds in the navigation ;)
I agree, the term Cortana makes no sense in this feature, they could switch to something like "what is this" or "quick search".
Yeah, better save Cortana for smarter abilities :)

@viniciusbezerra 

Vini,

That is a rather neat idea.

I'll suggest it's a marketing thing to keep Cortana in Users' thoughts & awareness.  May help bring them to all the powerful assistance it can bring to their lives, all the talents & tools it offers (including search).

NB: Search & Cortana are, also, now separated. Search is all well & good, but, Cortana is that & a whole lot more (for people). Ergo, there is a desire to have people thinking of & using Cotana (for their benifit).

Cheers,
Drew

Looks like Edge developers are only considering Cortana to do a sidebar search in the browser, very limited ability to be honest, I hope they expand it and make the whole browser smart with the Cortana AI.
"A sidebar sounds good but not a sidebar like collection's sidebar where it pushes the web contents to the left to make room for itself instead of overlaying the web contents.

when it pushes web contents to the left, it breaks the original view, can create problems, can force an already loaded heavy page to need to reload etc." - HotCakeX

I was asking why the sidebar pushing things to the left would actually need to reload the website; a user can resize an entire window without having to reload anything.

I should have mentioned that I am in the A/B testing group that still hasn't gotten Collections, so I don't know what it does to websites when activated. I don't really feel like turning it on; that would somewhat defeat the purpose of A/B testing.

@WolfIcefang Collections is available as a flag to everyone...

 

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@WolfIcefang 

Spoiler

@WolfIcefang wrote:
"A sidebar sounds good but not a sidebar like collection's sidebar where it pushes the web contents to the left to make room for itself instead of overlaying the web contents.

when it pushes web contents to the left, it breaks the original view, can create problems, can force an already loaded heavy page to need to reload etc." - HotCakeX

I was asking why the sidebar pushing things to the left would actually need to reload the website; a user can resize an entire window without having to reload anything.

I should have mentioned that I am in the A/B testing group that still hasn't gotten Collections, so I don't know what it does to websites when activated. I don't really feel like turning it on; that would somewhat defeat the purpose of A/B testing.

I personally hate A/B testing because not everyone will have access to the same set of features.

Google chrome canary has more user base than Edge canary yet they don't need A/B testing.

 

Collections can only be activated using the flag

 

Annotation 2019-12-05 203729.png

 

@HotCakeX More than that, they have the instantbsearch feature, also without any add-ons.

Instead of having a sidebar search, the new search appears on top of the website you're using, without the need to open a new tab.

@FedeDiLo 


@FedeDiLo wrote:

@HotCakeX More than that, they have the instantbsearch feature, also without any add-ons.

Instead of having a sidebar search, the new search appears on top of the website you're using, without the need to open a new tab.


Hey, sorry could you quote me on that? because i lost the track of the comment you replied to x)

The one about opera addon