Tab preview in taskbar

Iron Contributor

Am I the only one who misses the overview of all my open Edge-tabs in the taskbar or do I have a special setting enabled which allows me to see only the current tab if I mouse-over the Edge icon in my taskbar? In IE or old Edge if I point my mouse to the icon in the taskbar I get an overview of all my open tabs and by clicking on one, I get directly to this tab instead the last accessed one.

 

I there anyone else who misses this feature or anyone, who can tell me how to enable it in the new Edge?

 

Cheers, Chris

Edit: This feature was only available in IE, not in Edge. Edge only had the tab preview by mouseover on tabs in Edge, IE only had the preview by mouseover on the IE icon on the TASKBAR. The new Edge now should have both. "The best of two worlds" :)

43 Replies
The goal is to create a good browser to be able to fulfill all the needs of users and if necessary, use extensions to add more features on demand, so using 4 different browsers at the same time is not very common.
so if you use 1 browser and all your tabs be open in there, you can add tabs to separate groups that have their own color and are easily recognizable.

@Alex Carlock 

I just remembered something,

you can actually do this, hold SHIFT and click on Edge icon on the taskbar, you will get this

 

Annotation 2019-11-26 181743.png

 

@HotCakeX The tabs in Edge/Edge beta don't have different colors for me is there an option for that?.  And even if they do, I'm color deficient and sometimes the different tab colors in IE aren't that noticeable.  Plus allowing the browser to choose the colors doesn't help keep tasks together because opening different searches and results will create different tab colors even if the task is related to the other tasks.

@HotCakeX Holding Shift and clicking on Edge/Edge Beta gets me a new window.  It doesn't display all of my currently open tabs in a preview.


@Alex Carlock wrote:

@HotCakeX The tabs in Edge/Edge beta don't have different colors for me is there an option for that?.  And even if they do, I'm color deficient and sometimes the different tab colors in IE aren't that noticeable.  Plus allowing the browser to choose the colors doesn't help keep tasks together because opening different searches and results will create different tab colors even if the task is related to the other tasks.


 

Check in the flags and see if you have Tab Groups, it should be there, i remember when I was using version 79 i could use it

 

Annotation 2019-11-26 182321.png

 

these are the colors

 

Annotation 2019-11-26 182524.png

 

I'm using Windows 10 night light so it should look way brighter on your screen

@Alex Carlock 


@Alex Carlock wrote:

@HotCakeX Holding Shift and clicking on Edge/Edge Beta gets me a new window.  It doesn't display all of my currently open tabs in a preview.


Yes but since you said you don't like to use tabs then you can open each tab/website in a new window to be easier to recognize.

@HotCakeX Oh, I must not have been clear.  I love using tabs.  I typically open a new browser window and perform a search (say for Windows support), and I open each result I want to look at in a new tab.  Then I open a new browser window to search for another topic (say OneNote help), and open each result I want to look at in a new tab.  Repeat the process for what ever else I'm working on.  This way each window is a different topic with multiple tabs for each result.

 

In IE, if I were to do that in one browser window, each new tab that's opened from another tab automatically gets the same color as the "parent tab".  That doesn't seem to happen in Edge Beta. after enabling the option you suggested above, I have to manually click tabs and add them to a group.  Also, if I move a tab left or right, it looses the tab group/color.  Am I missing something?  That doesn't seem as helpful as the old IE method (which because of my color deficiency wasn't as helpful for me as it may be for other people).

@Alex Carlock 


@Alex Carlock wrote:

@HotCakeX Oh, I must not have been clear.  I love using tabs.  I typically open a new browser window and perform a search (say for Windows support), and I open each result I want to look at in a new tab.  Then I open a new browser window to search for another topic (say OneNote help), and open each result I want to look at in a new tab.  Repeat the process for what ever else I'm working on.  This way each window is a different topic with multiple tabs for each result.

 

In IE, if I were to do that in one browser window, each new tab that's opened from another tab automatically gets the same color as the "parent tab".  That doesn't seem to happen in Edge Beta. after enabling the option you suggested above, I have to manually click tabs and add them to a group.  Also, if I move a tab left or right, it looses the tab group/color.  Am I missing something?  That doesn't seem as helpful as the old IE method (which because of my color deficiency wasn't as helpful for me as it may be for other people).


Tab groups are experimental at the moment, that's why they are enabled using only flags, they obviously need more improvements, the logic behind them and how websites should be automatically put in proper groups etc. btw you can give name to each group too.

you're not missing anything, developers just need to take our feedbacks and improve the Tab Groups feature based on them.

 

 

Is that one reason why Safari's tabs reduce in size the more that are opened? Perhaps this could be transferred to previewing open tabs on the Windows TaskBar - something I really find awkward if I have switched away from Windows 10 because it is missing from macOS!
Yeah that should be a reason, it happens on Edge insider and Google chrome as well, to a point that only a tiny bit of each tab is visible when there are so many tabs open.
image all of those open tabs be visible on the taskbar, oof

@Alex Carlock 

Hi Alex,

I'm not caring to jump into the arguments y'all are having with a person here.  But, you or someone said something in all of it about "organized" and you said, "This way each window is a different topic with multiple tabs for each result."

It's made me think to mention and advocate using multiple desktops because each one can have a specific 'interest'.  This has made computing, for me, extra-nice ever since this ability was introduced.  Soon Users will be able to name them, too.

Can't pull IE stuff into the future.  BUT, Edge gives a thumbnail for each tab at/in/on the browser, itself (not taskbar).  Edge C does not and THAT is what we have been asking since April to have continued with Edge C, as well.

Cheers,
Drew

@Drew1903 I'm sorry if I've sounded argumentative with @HotCakeX.  That wasn't my intent.  She's been helpful, and I appreciate her ideas and showing me options.

 

My request aside, I definitely agree that the tab previews available in Edge should be ported into Edge Beta.

 

I haven't used different desktops before because I didn't feel they'd work for my work style, but maybe I should take another look at them.

 

@HotCakeX, thanks for the information about tab groups being experimental.  I was wondering why I had to dig so deep to enable them.  This sheds light on that.

Yeah tab previews or thumbnails are very useful, i have no idea why they haven't added it to Edge insider yet, it's been on Google chrome for a long time.

multiple desktops umm..it'd work but it's kinda an overkill imo.
It's All fine, nothing to be sorry about, arguments and talks are necessary :)

you're welcome, i hope tab groups see more improvements in the future, right now Microsoft is doing exactly what Google is doing to chrome, they got to step up their game and make tab groups more useful like in IE

@Alex Carlock 

Alex, a tip:

With multiple desktops > Settings. Put Multitasking in the search box. You want the taskbar to show/highlight THAT desktop, BUT, Alt+Tab shows everything across all desktops... makes workflow & navigating ideal.  The number of desktops is unlimited.  And via taskview things can be assign where you want them & or moved & told whether to show in all desktops or not.

MultDs.png

Cheers,
Drew

it still won't show contents of each tab, so instead of multiple desktops, you can hold shift and open multiple windows.

multiple windows instead of multiple desktops.

 

Annotation 2019-11-26 181743.png

 

 

@Alex Carlock if you want to go for multiple desktops method, you're gonna want to set both of these options to "all desktops"

it will be more convenient and the experience will be seamless

 

Annotation 2019-11-27 011014.png

 

@Alex Carlock 

Apples & oranges:

Alex, I'm sorry someone is trying to tie thumbnails at the taskbar with multiple desktops; has nothing to do with each other! I, already, covered that thumbnails there is an IE thing not, Edge. BUT, the Edge thing  IS thumbnails at the browser tabs themselves (top of browser window). THAT is what we have wanted continued with Edge C.

Fact remains multi desktops is super-helpful & wonderful for being organized!

Cheers,
Drew

Someone? oh who? o.o
anyway, the point is that multiple desktops are overkill for someone that only wants to see tab thumbnails. it's called multiple desktops for a reason.
also using multiple desktops does not reveal the contents of each tab, which is what Alex was looking for.
so with all of that said, multiple windows do exactly the same as multiple desktops, in this situation.

Okay guys, that's it. Thanks for all the pros and cons. But let's get back to topic. ;)

I just wanted to tell MS that they pleeeease bring back both tab previews: the one IN EDGE C. on the top of the window and the one ON WINDOWS TASKBAR at the bottom of my screen. Regardless which one is more cool, more nice, more whatever. Fact is, if you use one of those, you're more productive than without. If you don't need it, you don't care if it's there.

@Chrizzlyyour not the only one and even now in 2022 people asks 

 

Therefore, this topic is still not done. A small update, for those who come here via search engines. It is February 2022.

 

Two things have been requested here:

 

A: Tab previews, like in the old Edge:
There is no 100% implementation of the solution from the legacy edge in the new edge, and there won't be. However, it is possible ...

 

  1. ... to activate the function "edge://flags/#tab-hover-card-images", so that tab previews will get a screenshot when hovering over them. Insert this in your Omnibox, choose "Enabled" und restart. If this is not enough, you can ...
  2. ... show the window switcher with ALT+TAB. There, the last 5-7 used Edge browser's tabs are displayed with a preview image. But ...
  3. ... If you only want to see the tabs in Edge (and all Tabs), you can use the Chrome extension Tab Preview Board) or similar. They work very well.

 

B: Tab previews in the Windows taskbar.
This wish ... see. This question will always come up. Because the problem is terribly documented. That is why not many know:

It used to work 10 years ago, but never since. It was intentionally patched out again. It does not work!

 

Why?

You have to know one thing: The new Edge is based on Chromium, as are many browsers these days. Vivaldi, Opera and so on. And that's probably where the problem is. I haven't seen a Chromium-based browser that has this feature in my lifetime.

 

It is not only Edge, there are also users of Chromium or Chrome or many other Chromium based browsers that would love to have this feature. The only problem is that to add this functionality, the core of Chromium will most likely have to be modified, but the Chromium developers have been refusing to do so for years. It was possible in 2011, but only for a short period.

 

Their excuse for not supporting it is something like "With our browser you can have up to 100 tabs open at the same time. Shall we take screenshots of all tabs and shoot them into your taskbar? They didn't manage to stabilize the feature and didn't want to fix it."

 

Maybe there is some truth to this, because the above mentioned tab preview via ALT+Tab was limited by Microsoft to the last 5 active tabs. This was certainly not only for optical reasons. Think about it.

Issue 10368027: Remove Aero Peek Tabs code. - Code Review (chromium.org)

8036 - Show thumbnails for open tabs on Windows 7 superbar (Aero Peek) - chromium

 

 

So much for the status at the beginning of 2022.

Hope, that is all so understandable.

If so, I would appreciate an upvote.
I will publish a blog post about this mess. --> https://ownonline.eu/en/blog/2022/11/08/chromium-tab-preview-in-the-windows-taskbar-why-it-didnt-hap... 
Today still people ask about this topic in several forums . Well and why? Because these idiots at Google still provide instructions to activate this function from ten years ago as search results. So you can only put your hand in front of your head for a really nice facepalm ala Jean Luc Picard ;)

 


Greetings
Patrick