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Reading List - Discussion

Microsoft

Hello everyone and thanks for your feedback around reading lists in Microsoft Edge. Based on user feedback from legacy Microsoft Edge, there was more work to do with the previous Reading list experience. We heard from users that it was confusing and was also missing some key features like offline reading support. With the next version of Microsoft Edge, we want to ensure we’re building something our customers will love. So, we aren’t shipping reading list immediately in the new Microsoft Edge. We’re going to take our time to ensure we get this right. In the meantime, read on for features currently in the preview builds of the next version of Microsoft Edge that we think could help in the interim. As always, we welcome your feedback to help us continue to evolve and build the best experience possible.

Alternatives for a reading list

To save your articles for reading later in the new Microsoft Edge, you can use Favorites, and there are many 3rd party extensions such as Pocket. You can also try a new feature called Collections that helps you collect and organize web pages. We believe together they can help serve most of the unmet needs and requirements of reading lists. We understand this isn’t a one to one replacement and your feedback will help us further understand what’s needed.

How to access my reading list data

Your reading list data is migrated from the old Microsoft Edge to the new Microsoft Edge via Favorites. To access your data, click: Settings and more --> Favorites --> Other favorites --> Reading list.

Send feedback

We appreciate the feedback we have received so far on Reading list, please continue to share with us what you'd like to see, what you think is missing or anything else.

Thank you,

- The Microsoft Edge Team

48 Replies

Hi @Elliot Kirk 

Please make Collections to be available Offline, this way it will be a good replacement for Reading List

All the info and details are in this topic:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Discussions/Collections-feature-request-Let-us-mark-a-collect...

 

developers even commented on that topic but no further follow ups or results have been made so far.

@Elliot Kirk 

 

I might sound like a broken record but I will say this again (and again (and again (and ... )))

 

Please first port all the functionality from Edge classic. Nothing more, nothing less and exactly as it worked. Preferably pixel by pixel identical.

 

Why? Because the users know how that works so we will not have to spend money on retraining them. Money better spent on Christmas gifts for example

They will also have all the functionality they expect from Edge.

 

As it stands today. We will not deploy the new edge for many months - I'll wait until it gets at least a decent set of features

@Elliot Kirk Thanks for the update. I love the reading list and therefore hope that it will return in the new Edge! So please bring it back with a feature set at least on par with the legacy reading list. Oh and I would also love it if you could add a keyboard shortcut for activating the immersive reader view and also one for opening the reading list.

@matsmcp 


@matsmcp wrote:

@Elliot Kirk 

 

I might sound like a broken record but I will say this again (and again (and again (and ... )))

 

Please first port all the functionality from Edge classic. Nothing more, nothing less and exactly as it worked. Preferably pixel by pixel identical.

 

Why? Because the users know how that works so we will not have to spend money on retraining them. Money better spent on Christmas gifts for example

They will also have all the functionality they expect from Edge.

 

As it stands today. We will not deploy the new edge for many months - I'll wait until it gets at least a decent set of features


 

I don't know how to use Reading List and I never bothered to learn because I never felt the need for it.

just like at least 95% of the people in the world, I Rarely used Edge classic due to its lack of features, extension support and lots of other issues.

so we shouldn't expect everyone to know how Edge classic works because the market share can explain everything.

obviously if Microsoft apply just the same features to the new Edge, nothing will change. so everything needs to be reevaluated. 

 

@HotCakeX 

I would say it had more features than most other browsers. Inking, reading list, set aside and so on

It didn't have good plugins or a good  plugin interface - both solved and this was the true killer. No adblocker for many years as one example.

it didn't render all pages in the same way as chrome - solved

 

The problem now is as long as it has the same name as the old Edge - users expects it to work the same way and it doesn't due to missing features. It's like upgrading outlook and finding out t hat you cant attach files or replying to all anymore. I strongly believe that if released in this state it most certainly will get a rumor of not working and a lower userbase due to that

You're right too you know..
I mean if developers had the resource and time, they should port the same features from old to new Edge, at least temporarily, and then reevaluate them, deciding which ones to delete, which ones to upgrade and which ones to change.

@Elliot Kirk To be honest, I don't think many people care about this feature as it was in the legacy Edge (and, that is, of the minority of people that used legacy Edge).


I think there could be an option somewhere to "make this page available offline" or "make pages in this folder available offline", and it would be nice if you had the option to make collections available offline.

 

[Perhaps specifying "for a week/month/indefinitely" would be useful, considering that most people will only need this if they're away from decent signal for an extended period and it's nice to have things deleted after a set period. Come to think of it, it's almost irrelevant since the internet is so accessible and increasingly so.]

 

I can see how a "reading list" could somewhat 'simplify' this feature, but a true "reading list" might be more useful if it saved webpages in reading mode and as epubs perhaps. 

I can easily see a future where the browser replaces the pdf and ebook reader. Apple Books has different "shelves" for pdfs, including word docs converted to pdf natively in Safari. If a reading list could do something similar ("shelves" for epubs and pdfs, and the ability to convert webpages and docs), it would be extremely useful.

 

Thus, there are three features I may request in place of a reading list:

    1. A "Make page/folder available offline for X days" (7 days or 30 days or indefinitely).

    2. The ability to convert webpages/docs into pdfs/epubs (print to pdf isn't great).

    3. A "bookshelf" or "reading list" with saved pdfs/epubs, and filters to see saved webpages.

 

This would all have to be perfectly integrated and intuitive to effect widespread adoption though, which is the tricky part.

 

I believe in you guys.

I think bringing over the reading list feature would be useful, yes you can technically use favourites to accomplish the same task, but it feels a little clunky since it's not designed to be used for rapid adding and removing.

 

Collections could be a good alternative, I haven't tried collections too much yet, but for Collections to be a useful alternative it would have to be available on the mobile app, since my main use for using a reading list like feature is when I'm on my iPhone and find a article I want to read I need a way to easily add that to a list for reading later on my desktop.

 

So whatever comes of Reading List, for me the priority is that it solves that use case and does it in a way where it's very easy to add items and then remove them once done.  YouTube kind of manages to accomplish this with their Watch Later feature, which is just a personal playlist but with quick context menu actions to allow easy adding and removing from that particular playlist.

@AaronMcHale 


@AaronMcHale wrote:

I think bringing over the reading list feature would be useful, yes you can technically use favourites to accomplish the same task, but it feels a little clunky since it's not designed to be used for rapid adding and removing.

It literally takes 2 clicks to add something to favorites, you can do it in 2 seconds.

  1. click on the star button on the address bar (omnibox)
  2. click "done"

 

@Elliot Kirk 

I stopped using Reading List on Classic Edge, not because I didn't like the idea, but because it stopped syncing across my devices (as did Favorites). The sync experience in New Edge has been equally abysmal, and now the Collections have stopped syncing (and Favorites syncing is still disabled, with only a few weeks until launch).

 

So, one of the most important things to get right, should you consider to revive Reading List, is to make the list sync properly. Unfortunately, after years of sync failures, I doubt your ability to deliver and recommend that you stick to getting the announced features working first.

@AaronMcHale 

I whole heartedly agree with this. It explains everything I expect from a basic reading list experience. Of course more functionality can be added, but as long as these basic scenarios are covered, I am satisfied.

@dvdwnd 

Yes! This so much! I lost count how many months I have had issues with reading list syncing. It took between 5 minutes to never for the changes to reflect on a secondary device.

 

Worst experience were when you had to reformat *Windows* before reading list sync functionality would resume to work normally.

@Elliot Kirk 

Meanwhile, it could be considered to add a bookmark-like feature other than Favorites or Collections. The main distinction is that an item forever remains in Favorites or Collections list until deleted, but this shouldn't be the case for the Reading List or a Bookmark Feature. In such a feature, a page should automatically be removed once it has been visited by the user. 

Apart from this, optional features like Offline Saving could be added.

Collections + offline capability = reading list

exact, collections at least for me replaces the reading list well, just need to add the Offline function

@Elliot Kirk 

While I agree with many other posts in this thread, I feel like adding my own voice.

Reading List, to me, was useless in Old Edge. It felt like it was just a folder in Favorites that looked special. I was turned off from it because, while Favorites could be transferred to Chrome or another browser, the Reading List was stuck on Edge. I do not want to see the return of Reading List in Edge. Collections has already borrowed the visual style of Reading List; I could just create a collection called Reading List and call it a day. For the Stable release of Edge, importing Reading List should create a Collection in Collections instead of a folder in Favorites. The only point of using Reading List in Classic Edge was the unique visual style.

 

I do not want the Edge team to end up with four unique ways to save lists of web pages. We are planning:

Favorites (already here, must be kept the same for compatibility with other browsers)

Collections (already here, brand new, and awesome)

Set Aside Tabs (Not here yet, but pretty unique)

Reading List (imported into favorites)

 

When we talk about Reading List features, we're talking about features that were not in old Edge. These brand new features could be added to the brand new Collections. For example, the ability to choose "view offline" on a collection by collection basis would be neat. Another feature I have wanted for a while is the ability for the Reading List to remember what part of a webpage you stopped reading at - just like a bookmark in a real book. "Bookmark section" would be a great feature in collections too; I sometimes save an entire webpage to a collection because of a 2 paragraph chunk 3/4th through an article. Inking on webpages isn't out yet, but I'd assume that'll be as useful in Collections as it would have been in Reading list.

 

Arguably, the Reading List has enough potential to be its own unique tool, and this had been making me uncertain about my desire to see it be ignored in favor of collections. However, while writing this post, I realized something: if Reading List is added with unique features, it would really be depriving Collections of greater flexibility. If Collections retained all of its current features plus all planned Reading List features, users wouldn't have to choose which tool to use. They wouldn't be saying "jeez, I really wish I could use Collections for the notes and organization, but it needs to be offline so I guess it's getting put in reading list."

I can only see one potential negative in this: Collections might end up overcomplicated. That's something I can't really predict, so I'm sticking with what I've said here.

@Elliot Kirk I originally used the Reading List app from Windows 8, and was pleased when it was built into Edge in Windows 10, and it is certainly great to put things I want to focus on into (across my connected computers and phones) rather than adding them to my huge list of favourites.

 

However now that TaskView and TImeLine sync across from Windows 10 devices to Android, I am using Reading List less.  

 

I really like the Collections feature, but again working with older people I am unsure how anyone will be able to discover or use anything new.  At least with classic Edge Reading Lists are discoverable when clicking or tapping the original Favourites management - I have always referred to that button as the LISTS button to my clients - Favourites, Reading important stuff, History and Downloads - all listed for convenience under one button - that is something thats missing from chromium Edge, but I have discussed that elsewhere.

Nice :3
1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by MissyQ (Microsoft)
Solution

We wanted to thank everyone again for their feedback around Reading Lists. We have internally acknowledged that Reading List as a feature was not able to meet the needs of our users. While we do have some very passionate users of this feature, the truth is that it wasn’t used much in Legacy Edge. With these things in mind, we have decided to not implement this feature into chromium-based Edge.

 

For alternatives, we still believe that the ones mentioned in the original post are what will work best for users. Collections have had several new features implemented recently, and we encourage you to give them a try. If you’re curious as to where your Reading Lists went when you updated to new Edge, they should be located in your Favorites under the Other favorites folder listed as Reading List.

 

While we are not going to bring this feature to new Edge, we are always listening and making choices based on all your feedback. Please continue to send in the feedback about what you would love to see or what you think is missing!

 

Thanks,

The Microsoft Edge Team

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