Dev channel update to 81.0.416.3 is live

[josh_bodner]

Hello Insiders, today we’re releasing build 81.0.416.3 to the Dev Channel.  We expect this to be the last build for major version 81, which means we will soon be bringing it to the Beta channel.  Additionally, for those of you who have the Stable channel installed, we released our first update to Stable last week, bringing it up to major version 80, and for people on ARM64 machines, installing the native ARM64 build of Stable.  We also started a discussion last week around Edge Legacy’s Tab Preview feature and what you’d like to see us do with it in the future:  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/tab-preview-discussion/m-p/1160569.  Finally, all of the features and fixes worth mentioning this week: 

Added features: 

• Added blue color to the account button in InPrivate windows as suggested by user feedback. 
• Added a tool on the Favorites management page to remove duplicate favorites. 
• Enabled Collections sync for all channels that currently have Collections available. 
• Added the ability to highlight text in PDFs. 
• Added support for web-optimized PDFs that download one page at a time as they’re viewed. 
• Added a feature to Immersive Reader to focus on only one or a few lines at a time. 
• Added a dialog to inform users when an extension is disabled because it has the ability to change settings (new tab page, search provider, etc.)
• Added a message when a user tries to use IE mode and Internet Explorer isn’t installed. 
• Added support for syncing the “Sign in automatically” setting under edge://settings/passwords. 
• Added an option in edge://settings/profiles/multiProfileSettings to choose a default profile to use when opening links in external applications. 
• Added a management policy controlling the ability to import Top Sites from another browser. 
• Added a management policy controlling the ability to import Extensions from another browser. 
• Added a management policy controlling the ability to import Cookies from another browser. 
• Added a page to Settings to help users download Edge mobile. 

Improved reliability: 

• Fixed an issue where saving a PDF sometimes crashes the tab. 
• Fixed an issue where watching encrypted video from sites like Netflix sometimes causes the device to freeze.  Note that this issue is actually fixed by updating to the latest video drivers, so the Edge fix for this is to avoid the issue by degrading video playback on devices with old drivers. 
• Fixed some issues where signing into the browser fails, or succeeds but doesn’t allow for sync.
• Fixed a crash on browser shutdown for users of Family Safety.    
• Fixed a browser crash during the First Run Experience. 

Changed behavior: 

• Fixed an issue where text on a webpage would occasionally appear corrupted. 
• Fixed an issue where the “Move to new window” tab context menu entry contains a gibberish string. 
• Fixed an issue where the Jumplist is missing or has incorrect entries. 
• Fixed an issue where the keyboard shortcut to start Read Aloud isn’t shown in menus. 
• Fixed an issue where changing settings on the New Tab Page sometimes results in the settings not getting applied to subsequent new tabs until the browser is restarted. 
• Fixed an issue where IE mode can’t be used and gives a message that Internet Explorer isn’t installed even though it is. 
• Fixed an issue where a message that a new Edge window can’t be opened because Edge is currently running with administrator privileges is unexpectedly seen. 
• Fixed an issue where dropping an extension file or folder onto the Extensions page when Developer Mode is enabled doesn’t install the extension. 
• Fixed an issue where the UI to switch profiles when opening a link has invisible text in Dark Theme. 
• Fixed an issue where some images weren’t loading in Immersive Reader. 
• Fixed an issue where new profiles sometimes show the option to sign into the browser even though sign in is disabled via management policy. 
• Fixed an issue where toggling certain website permission settings doesn’t update the UI. 
• Fixed an issue where certain DRM-protected video only shows a black screen on HDR-capable devices. 
• Fixed an issue where creating a new Collection or viewing a Collection appears to rename all existing Collections to “Collections”. 
• Fixed an issue where dragging a link into a Collection doesn’t properly add the item. 
• Fixed an issue where re-ordering items in a Collection using the keyboard doesn’t scroll the pane as the item is moved beyond the current window size. 
• Permanently disabled Flash on ARM64 devices. 

Known issues: 

• Some users are seeing favorites get duplicated after we made some fixes in that area last month. 
• The dialog to install a website as an app sometimes doesn’t appear.  In those cases, interacting with the address bar or navigating in the same tab will sometimes bring it up. 
• Users of certain security software packages will see all tabs fail to load with the error STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION. The only way to prevent this behavior is to uninstall that software. We’re currently engaging with the developers of that software to try to find a fix. 
• After an initial fix for it recently, some users are still experiencing Edge windows becoming all black. UI popups like menus are not affected and opening the Browser Task Manager (keyboard shortcut is shift + esc) and killing the GPU process fixes it.  Note that some of these fixes don’t yet exist in the Stable channel, and the issue only appears to affect users with certain hardware.
• There are some issues where users with multiple audio output devices sometimes don’t get any sound from Edge. In one case, Edge becomes muted in the Windows Volume Mixer and unmuting it fixes it.  In another, restarting the browser fixes it. 
• At certain zoom levels, there is a noticeable line between the browser UI and the web contents.

As always, thanks for all your feedback and suggestions! 

[#2]

@HotCakeX 

Yes, I have the stable Edge on about 4 computers and I never disconnected it from my MS account.  

Even though I never intentionally open the "old" Edge anymore, sometimes it will open up claiming it is  my default browser, so I guess we have a big party here... 

Should I unlink the stable version from my MS account on all computers?  Sorry for the mess  I created

Thanks.

[#3]

@Eyal_Shahar 

Spoiler

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@Eyal_Shahar wrote:

@HotCakeX 

Yes, I have the stable Edge on about 4 computers and I never disconnected it from my MS account.  

Even though I never intentionally open the "old" Edge anymore, sometimes it will open up claiming it is  my default browser, so I guess we have a big party here... 

Should I unlink the stable version from my MS account on all computers?  Sorry for the mess  I created

Thanks.

---

Well I think it's better to get rid of stable versions of Edge, everywhere, until this is fixed:

Planned for February

Favorites sync issues, including sync not working, deleted favorites reappearing, and favorites being duplicated

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/top-feedback-summary-for-february-11/m-p/1167413

(I'd add to that: favorites not syncing and favorite getting lost)

I'd give Edge stable another shot probably around May 2020, for now you can use Canary channel, it has more features and once that fix for favorite syncing is released, it will first come to Canary:)

I personally have to rely on Firefox for now because I don't want to get another headache sorting my favorites or worrying whether they are syncing properly or not.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/what-does-this-mean-in-edge-sync-internals/m-p/11...

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/duplicate-favorites-bookmarks/td-p/1165889

[#4]

I am pretty sure it was the same in the old edge. You had to delete the previous highliting and highlight again with the new colour. Or select the highlighted part and change the colour to all the part.

[#5]

I don't understand how to highlight. I cannot find any button at the top, and if I select the text I cannot find the option to highlight it.
Also, I have some issues selecting the text with the surface pen. I would like to have the same smooth behaviour I had on Classic Edge

[#6]

I stopped the sync all of my Stable Edge versions.
None of my favorites was lost, only the icons but I get them back as soon as I use the link.
I am good with the Dev version, IMHO it's the best browser out there today.
Thanks for the help.
Eyal.

[#7]

@josh_bodner Finally I found out what to do to sync favorites and what is the showstopper to it.

We have a local AD connected to AzureAD. I've learned that all users need to have Enterprise State Roam enabled in AzureAD. Edge is configured via GPO to automatically sign the user (Browser Sign-In enabled, Proactive Authentication enabled).

Still on most devices I wondered why edge shows that sync is disabled for this account.

With this settings Edge creates per default a new profile with the account name "<local domain>\<username>" (local account) instead of "<username>@<domain>" (connected Microsoft business account used for M365 apps). Profiles with the this account name (local user) aren't synced. This needs to be replaced by a manually created profile with selecting the Microsoft business account to enable sync. Nothing I can tell every user to do.

In the local AD the account name is set to the version with "<username>@<domain>".

Is there any option to tell Edge to use the "<username>@<domain>" business account for profile creation and sign-in?

One addition: I've noticed that in the past one of the Edge Dev Version created a folder on OneDrive for the Collections. It seems that this isn't done anymore, correct? Or does it happen only under special circumstances?

[#8]

@HotCakeX You may want to read my post below. A few minutes ago we successfully replaced Edge (dev) by Edge (stable) with working sync.

[#9]

@FedeDiLo 

---

@FedeDiLo wrote:
I don't understand how to highlight. I cannot find any button at the top, and if I select the text I cannot find the option to highlight it.
Also, I have some issues selecting the text with the surface pen. I would like to have the same smooth behaviour I had on Classic Edge

---

This should help

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/discussions/dev-channel-update-to-81-0-416-3-is-live/m-p/1167...

Also try enabling the flag: edge://flags/

Enable Text Highlights for PDF

Enables creation and modification of Text Highlights for PDF. – Mac, Windows

#edge-pdf-highlight

[#10]

@Eyal_Shahar 

Spoiler

---

@Eyal_Shahar wrote:
I stopped the sync all of my Stable Edge versions.
None of my favorites was lost, only the icons but I get them back as soon as I use the link.
I am good with the Dev version, IMHO it's the best browser out there today.
Thanks for the help.
Eyal.

---

You're welcome! if you have enough RAM, depending on how many favorites you have, you can open them all at once ;)

[#11]

@Thomas_Gessert 

---

@Thomas_Gessert wrote:

@HotCakeX You may want to read my post below. A few minutes ago we successfully replaced Edge (dev) by Edge (stable) with working sync.

---

Yes, nobody said sync doesn't work, but sync on Edge stable causes favorites to duplicate. I've experienced it, another user experienced it on this thread too.

I use 2 Edge instances.

[#12]

@HotCakeX 

Why? The lose of icons is a great opportunity to identify all my unused favorites and delete them 

[#13]

Aha whatever works better for you ;)

[#14]

@Thomas_Gessert the type of account that's created is dependent on the way your organization has Windows set up.  If your machines are AAD-J or Hybrid AD joined, then you'll get the correct type of account created (username@domain); if your machines are on-prem joined + workplace joined, then Edge creates the domain\username account.  Right now, the only way to get Edge to create the correct account type by default is to get your organization to hybrid join their devices (see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/devices/hybrid-azuread-join-federated-domain..., https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/devices/hybrid-azuread-join-managed-domains)... And while we're investigating a way to make it so that Edge just does the right thing all the time, we're still a ways away from getting there.  

[#15]

@Glowtape - Can you please file a report via the feedback and capture the logs by choosing "Recreate my problem"? This will help us diagnose the issue better. 

Also, have your tried restarting the machine to see if this error continues to persist ?

Thanx for your help.

[#16]

@josh_bodner 

that link: error 404.

[#17]

The link got connected to some of the text - this one works:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/devices/hybrid-azuread-join-managed-domains

[#18]

@josh_bodner What happened to this flag: Enable GPU AppContainer Lockdown? The feature does not appear to be integrated by default into Dev version. Can you please provide details?

[#19]

@ahl2ndc yup, we can thank the forum for vacuuming up the punctuation I put after the link 

[#20]

@FrankDeNunzio that flag probably expired when we moved to major version 82.  By default, all flags have an expiry date, although it's often arbitrary what it's set to initially.  

[#21]

Is the feature now default, or will the flag return? TIA