Control over tabs vs new windows and PDF

Copper Contributor

I've been enjoying Edge Dev for a while now, coming over from Firefox.  There are a couple of things, however, that are particularly annoying.  

 

First is that I can't control (or figure out how to control) how all links are opened.  I would like to be able to force all new links that want a new window to open in a new tab.  I can't figure out how to make that happen.  Is there a way to force it, or is that MIA?

 

Next is that when those windows do open, they can restrict some of the functions in that new tab.  Whether right click functionality or removal of the address bar buttons (Back, refresh, Home), there should be a way to retain those functions that I can control.

 

Finally, is the apparent lack of an easy way to open files in an external app.  PDF, for example, seems to have two options.  Read in Edge or save, then open the external app to read.  Same with Word - which, as a MS product, should have better integration!

 

These are probably petty things, but for me, enough to eventually make Firefox my default browser again, if they're not addressed.  Or if someone can't show me where I'm messing up on these settings!

5 Replies

@skiahh 

I can see how implementing these options would be useful.  Increasing customizability in the browser will increase the likelihood that someone will want to use it if they can use it how they want.

 

Gabriel

@skiahh 

I'm also coming from Firefox. I've always opened links by right clicking and opening in a new tab, so I was surprised that this existed. What type of links are opening in New windows instead of new tabs?

 

For the PDFs, when they open, hit save: save.png, and it will download, which you can click to open in your default PDF viewer. Personally, this is why I use the pdf viewer built into the browser, it's convenient, but I'm still waiting for some features to migrate from classic edge to the new one.

@cjc2112 Some websites are forcing new windows instead of tabs.  My daughter's school website has a link to an page called Skyward.  It's where her schedule, grades, test scores, etc are stored.  Clicking on the link takes me to a new tab with the login page, but once I log in, it opens a new, smaller window over the main window with the home bar buttons disabled.  I can't drag it into the previous window to make it a tab, I'm stuck with it.  In Firefox, I can use about:settings to force that new window to open in a new tab and prevent the website from taking away the home bar functionality.

 

As for the pdfs, I'd like to be able to tell Edge not to download to a location, but rather download into a temp file and open Adobe.  I can then save or not, as I need and the only copy will be in that temp file which gets cleaned up every so often.  There's a "Save to" option, why not the "Open with" option?Littering my desktop or download folder with every pdf file I need to read so I can then open it with Adobe is crazy!  

@skiahh About the only thing I ever liked about IE was the tab control you mentioned.  Being able to tell the browser where to open a link (new tab, new window, same window) was so extremely handy in an environment with many different windows doing different things from various applications.  While I have always used Chrome, I have always missed that.  I was disappointed when the original Edge didn't include that. Adding it to this new Edge would make it absolutely epic.

Has there been any more progress on this that anyone's found? I still cannot find a solution to the tabs/windows annoyance.