Forum Discussion
MicrosoftTab Preview - Discussion
Hi Insiders, thanks so much for your feedback on the tab experience in the new Microsoft Edge. From reading your comments, it is clear that many of you would like an easy way to view more information about your tabs to quickly identify which one you are looking for. This problem can be particularly painful when you have many tabs open at once, perhaps appearing similar to each other with repeated site titles or icons, and you'd like to avoid having to switch to each of them to find the right one. Many of you specifically cite "tab preview" from the legacy version of Microsoft Edge as a helpful tool in this situation.
Top Feedback Item: Bring the tab preview feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge
As we investigate this feedback further, we'd like to ask for your help to make sure we are solving the right problem and get the experience just right. For example, in the Microsoft Edge Legacy , there were actually a couple of methods to preview the contents of a tab. One way was to hover over a tab, and a little thumbnail and description of that specific tab would appear with more information. Another method was to select an arrow to the right of the new tab button to open a persistent preview of all the open tabs simultaneously.
Could you tell us more about your experience in this area, and what you would like to see going forward? For example, which of the legacy version of Microsoft Edge tab preview features did you specifically use, and how did you use it? What problems did this feature help you solve and how? What types of information is particularly useful in a preview of a tab and why?
Thanks for your help, we look forward to working with you to improve the new Microsoft Edge in this area.
Bring the same Tab Previews/Thumbnails from Edge legacy to the new Edge (Chromium)
that was the best design you guys did.
other browsers are trying to mimic and copy Edge legacy, such as Chrome and Vivaldi.
And
- I'm with you on this. I mostly used the hover previews but the way old Edge handled it allowed one to see all previews at once, which seems like the best of both worlds. The arrow button offers another feature as well, namely the ability to see all tabs with a greater width at the same time, which would become even more relevant now with the current tab behavior where tabs just get smaller and smaller, unlike old Edge which offered a scrolling list at some point (which I prefer).
HotCakeX I agree 100%. Chromium Edge's lack of those two features was why I delayed switching to it as my primary browser for so long. I used them extensively and I still find tab management in other browsers cumbersome by comparison. Adding legacy Edge's tab preview features into Chromium Edge has always been at the top of my wish list.
This should also entail a scrolling tab list. Having to click, tap or hover on a tiny little favicon when you have lots of tabs open is pretty ridiculous. There needs to be a minimum tab width like in legacy Edge. 🙂
- I agree. Both of these features initially came from Opera (the persistent view going back to the Presto days) and are essentially seen as a design standard these days. Edge should support both with live preview.
- Yeah I almost forgot how Opera was creative during pre-Chromium era.
Elliot Kirk , both features are great and should be brought over but if I had to pick it would be the view of all open tabs. One upgrade though would make both the thumbnail and the view of all tabs live e.g. if one of the tabs is playing a video you can watch it progress.
Elliot Kirk Hi,
Both of the features implemented in the Tab Preview feature in the Microsoft Edge Legacy should bee brought to the new Edge. Both of them have been very useful.
- I use a Surface Pro 7 exclusively as a tablet (touch only and Tablet Mode on). Having the arrow button to make the tab strip larger, scrollable with previews is a MUST when more than 5 or 6 tabs are open and using touch only. The main reason I refuse to switch to new Edge is because of its poor usability with touch and Tablet Mode (seriously why is there a minimize and maximize/restore button on new Edge on tablet mode when they do nothing...but I digress)
I use both tab preview features in legacy Edge (hovering over a tab and selecting the arrow). Both are needed when I have tabs with no icons or tabs which have the same icons, particularly if I have many tabs. The hover feature is useful when I just want to check a few tabs, and having previews of all tabs show up is useful i I want to scroll through many tabs, and when using touch.
I would love to be able to set up Edge so that when Windows switches to tablet mode, Edge goes to fullscreen mode and I can bring down the tabs, address bar, etc. by swiping down from the top edge of the screen, and I would like the tabs to always be shown with previews in this mode. This would provide a very similar experience to Internet Explorer on Windows 8 which I think was great on tablets.
Elliot Kirk Please implement BOTH ways (hovering AND the arrow button) because they are both extremely useful and were amongst the best features of the old Edge.
Also please implement scrolling in the tab bar... When you have multiple tabs opened, they get very very tiny and basically useless. The way the old Edge handled this (by making the tabs scrollable) made it perfect.Elliot Kirk I agree with the others, both methods should be brought back
- Just like legacy edge, that feature should be implemented just like that. Hope to see this soon.
Elliot Kirk I did like tab preview, especially for touch devices (and the way it is used on Xbox One). Adding this into the new Edge would be a sensible move, and would ensure that Edge continued to be more capable/usable on tablets and other small form factor Windows devices.
- Personally, I always liked to hover over a tab, and a little thumbnail and description of that specific tab would appear with more information and I do not believe I've ever used the other and can not give any input as to its value. Though if your going to add one, you might as well add them both.
Dennis5mileDennis5mile I agree.
