Missing history button in Edge Stable?

[DanielRyan]

I've waited a while to ask this because I thought maybe it's a feature that's being rolled out in stages but it seems to have been around for a long time now and rolled out simultaneously on all of my other devices but I can't see the new history button in Edge Stable on my desktop PC. I also don't have any option to turn it on even:

I've tried resetting Edge by deleting the entire profile folder and setting up from scratch but that also didn't help. I do have the Vertical Tabs, etc. already.

My Edge details are (Windows 10 Pro x64):

[#2]

This is not a expected behavior.

I suggest open the Customize toolbar and then through the feedback option in the Microsoft Edge report this issue.

Try restart your PC and see if the problem persist?

[#3]

@Reza_Ameri 

Spoiler

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@Reza_Ameri wrote:

This is not a expected behavior.

I suggest open the Customize toolbar and then through the feedback option in the Microsoft Edge report this issue.

Try restart your PC and see if the problem persist?

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And what makes you think it's not an expected behavior?

the official release note doesn't say it should be there.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

@DanielRyan 

Hi,

This is probably still a controlled feature rollout, like I mentioned in my other comment, the release note says nothing about it.

you're talking about history flyout, well, favorites flyout came even before that but one of my Edge stable installations doesn't even have that.

[#5]

@HotCakeX Interesting. Thank you both for the quick replies. From my experience what HotCakeX is saying sounds the most likely. I have observed that new features seem to randomly roll out and don't necessarily follow the version number. Just strange that the history flyout button has rolled out to all my other devices (it's such a great feature which is why I'm missing having it!). 

Hopefully it will be fully rolled out soon but I've been unable to find any official release date information about this feature - even in the official feature development lists on this forum.

As an aside, while I understand this feature rollout is useful for testing, as an end user it is really confusing, especially because it doesn't always seem to come with version number changes. Also it's extremely confusing when features get announced as if they are already available but really they have not fully rolled out (it's not just Edge, this applies to the business version of Office365 among other Microsoft products). I'm not the only one to be confused as you can see from the post by this journalist: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/microsoft-adds-startup-boost-sleeping-tabs-to-edge-build-89/...

Microsoft you have great products and the features you are rolling out e.g. in Edge make me actively prefer them over other options but your messaging about feature rollouts can be very confusing!

[#6]

You're welcome ^^
Oh I totally agree with you, I also complained a lot about it, but unfortunately they are still using this method.
Edge isn't the only product, controlled feature rollout or staged rollout is also used in Windows insider and Office insider.
I don't have much experience with similar products from other companies, maybe they do it too.
but from what I've read/seen in this forum, this helps them find and fix problems quickly so not everyone will be affected by a bug at the same time.

That being said, try this method if you want to get the history flyout on your Edge stable that's missing it.
right-click on Edge stable shortcut on desktop, select properties, go to shortcut tab, at the end of the target filed, add this:

--enable-features=msHistoryHub

make sure Edge is closed when doing this (including all web apps) and also turn off startup boost from settings, (if you have it), so that when you close Edge, it will actually be closed: edge://settings/system

after that, launch Edge from the same desktop shortcut and go to settings to toggle history button: edge://settings/appearance

let me know how it goes 🙂

[#7]

Hi HotCakeX

Thank you for that. I followed your instructions (and even restarted the computer to make sure Edge was restarted) but unfortunately the flag --enable-features=msHistoryHub didn't help.

Maybe because I'm running stable and it really hasn't been released for me yet. Interesting though that this one feature seems so hard to manually enable. I managed to get the vertical tabs early by going to edge://flags but there is nothing about history there and I was sure your shortcut modifier would work but unfortunately it didn't 🙂

I will wait patiently, at least I know that nothing is *wrong* with my Edge install even if it is confusing and annoying to wait for such a useful feature!

[#8]

You're welcome, yes, hope your remaining Edge installation receives it soon

[#9]

@HotCakeX @DanielRyan I have the same issue. It is not phased rollout, because on one of my PCs with that version of edge the History Hub works fine on one user account, and I can add the history item to the toolbar. However on an alternative user account the history hub just shows as 3 tabs with no location text and the option to add under appearance is missing. On my laptop with the same version of Edge it all works fine.

[#10]

When you change users, did you go to settings to toggle it? each user account has separate settings: edge://settings/appearance

[#11]

@HotCakeX I am not referring to Edge Profiles BUT to Windows 10 user accounts, I set up a new profile in Edge under the misbehaving user account and the History is still corrupt. even when looking in settings appearance as suggested.

[#12]

I should also say I have reset edge to default and restarted PC etc. Cleared all Caches and history. Using settings, reset settings and cache clear options

[#13]

Different Windows 10 user accounts? then that's the normal sign of staged rollout.

[#14]

Different user accounts on the same PC ?? Having different features available under the same app.
That seems strange as the Executables are common to all accounts only user data different.

Using the same user account on my laptop gives different results

[#15]

Yes, same executable. nothing changes in the executables, we all have the same thing.
the remote server just sends activation commands to turn on certain features.
just like those in Edge:flags
when you enable/disable them, nothing changes in the executable.

[#16]

I tried --enable-features=msHistoryHub it didn't help.

[#17]

@HotCakeX Just for completeness, I have some screenshots from one PC two different accounts. On the one with issues I have the History hub but the contents is corrupt, and I do not have the add history button.

[#18]

Yes, like the other user said apparently it doesn't work in stable channel.

if you believe your Edge profile is corrupted, delete it from settings and then make a new one and sign in again.

[#19]

I had tried deleting the entire profile before it made no difference. My Edge versions in BOTH accounts show as Version 89.0.774.54 which is the current stable version, yet in one user account it works and in the other account it doesn't.
I have been into user, appdata, local, microsoft, edge, user data, deleted the default directory so it removed all user config from edge and it started anew. This made no difference either.

[#20]

Alright well don't worry then, I mean you can go one step further and reset your PC but i don't think that's worth it. I'm sure it's just a staged rollout and your Edge is fine.
you can install Edge Beta and went to version 90 today.
it's the most stable channel of Edge insider
https://www.microsoftedgeinsider.com/en-us/download