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Timeline!!

Silver Contributor

This thing MUST support Timeline without having to add an extension:exclamation_mark:  Geeesh :face_with_rolling_eyes:

Cheers,
Drew
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26 Replies

@Drew1903 

 

Any browser has webpage History feature. I think there is no objective need to integrate into Edge even more shortcuts to OS activities history, as many users tend to ignore or block preserving such OS activity history for privacy reasons. Browser is a very bad place to collect multiple unneeded shortcuts to a variety of OS functions, unless such features improve high demand workflows. There're no advantages in accessing default OS features from browser rather then directly from OS. The simpler browser UI and Settings are - the better. :anxious_face_with_sweat:

best response confirmed by Drew1903 (Silver Contributor)
Solution

@sambul95 

Sam,

You are mixing apples & oranges.  Browser History and having the browser work with Windows 10  Timeline are 2 (very) different things. Sure, one can hold the back button to see past visits & manage that; nothing new.

Timeline is more about the OS than, the browser.  It's a Feature of Win10 not, of the browser  The browser just has to be compatible with it.

But, Win10 Timeline exists & works, inherently not, 'forced', with the default browser as part of the OS.  It can go back a long way (in time), show heaps more activities (than browser history) and one can, actually, 'see' those sites rather than just a list. Plus, there is how one can handle what shows in Timeline, the 'controls' or 'tools' it has AND its search ability.  Lastly, it is a nice help when navigating across multiple desktops.

Anyway, the point is, Win10 Timeline works with Edge.  But, right now (hopefully this changes, soon!), Timeline will not work with Edge C without adding an extension from the Chrome store.  Having to do that should not be necessary any more than it is w/ Edge.

 

TS.jpg

Sure Timeline is browser history, BUT, it is far more than what the back button gives:exclamation_mark:  If Win10 offers one all the neat stuff it does, one may as well, actually, use the stuff & be able to use it.

Cheers,
Drew



@Drew1903 

 

If a certain shortcut, feature, or setting was present in Edge Classic, it doesn't make a sufficient argument to bring it to Edge Chromium. Can the exact same Timeline be accessed from Windows? If YES, why access it from the browser? Because webpages as screenshots look more recognizable? Well, possibly...

 

Btw Timeline means storing your life info on MS Cloud. Many folks use PC while always disconnected from MS account. Hence they hardly need Timeline shortcuts. It may scare from Edge C privacy concerned users. In addition, duplicate shortcuts to OS features don't give any benefits, just clutter the UI. 

 

Well, MS wants users keeping their life info in the cloud, claiming  - its for user benefits, but at times giving no opt out. Users are pushing back, like you see with rejection of new OneNote, or sticking to Win 7. Privacy is valuable for most.

You may be suffering from a few misunderstandings.

To repeat, there is NO shortcut, as you put it, in the browser or something to add clutter to any browser UI. Timeline is part of the OS, NOT of a browser. Right now, it works natively with Edge. It is highly likely by the time Edge C is released it will, also. (without needing to add an extension, same as Edge, now) Especially, since Edge C will be the OS's default browser, same as Edge is, now.

Have no idea where you are getting your information.

People are very enthusiastic about One Note! Being able to use Add notes, Share and OneNote is super important to many/most people.

Clinging on to Win7 is/is going to be no more sensible, justifiable or intelligent than clinging on to XP.

And, the truth is, the fact is, MOST people DO use and realize the value of using their MS Account.

We will use local accounts whilst setting up machines for clients. They go to MS Accounts once in the customer's hands. That is a time when functioning under a local account makes sense. Not, daily use. And, anyone who does, we try to have them stop. Though, we encounter them very rarely. And a local account is no help if and when working across multiple devices.

Nor is "the Cloud" an issue.  We have been using the cloud for years.  We have been calling it "the Internet".

Cheers,
Drew
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Sent from my Windows Phone

@Drew1903

 

Oh, did you mean including browsing history into Timeline? This of course will be done, for some reason I thought you suggest adding a Timeline shortcut to browser.

 

You never use VPN - do you? You feel I'm suffering from something, but we seems to have totally different privacy habits and what MS calls "user experience". ;) You believe the entire web is a cloud, it may be of sort. The difference is whether your personal life is part of that cloud, and can be perused at will by anyone having access to it. Some don't like it - and other don't care.

 

You think that everything MS offers is great and deserves heavy use, but many folks think some things are great, and other are way too invasive or useless. You test what MS offers to test, but many folks heavily mod stuff to fit their needs or remove junk and clutter. Like OneNote - vast majority of users reject the MS ultimatum of storing private notes on the MS Cloud, or going away - just read any OneNote forum. Its former team was dismantled, and now small group is working on it, and almost no-one using it from those who still enjoy OneNote 2016, except on mobile.

 

Yes, sync is great for some things. But there is a limit of sync usability. OneNote on a phone or tablet doesn't need wealth of info some folks store in their PC notes. It just needs a small subset of short on-the-go topics. Folks also don't use a mobile browser with the same intensity, long time and broad topics spectrum they use PC browser. Enterprise admins say on forums they'll never move to OneNote on MS Cloud, as sharing company secrets with Microsoft is not in their plans, and MS has no right to give such ultimatums, especially claiming user interest as the reason despite loud users protests.

 

Hence there is no need to have exact same copy of favorites on each device, just a small on-the-go subset on mobile. That goes for EVERYTHING. Absolutely no need to sync all your junk on all devices, only a subset of things that fits the device purpose and use pattern. Especially true, there isn't a shred of sense in keeping one's entire passwords set on someone's cloud server - this is just insane, but some folks do it just because they're offered to.

@sambul95 I don't know what you know exactly, but man, there is an option to not to sync your data to cloud, in Timeline.

image.png

This option allows you, not to sync data to your so called, MS cloud...

 

And I do not get exactly what you mean by cloud, privacy and so on. Timeline never forces you to sync the data at once, unless you allow it to. 

And other part, all the services are getting on cloud, and delivering new experiences. If you have used Chrome, Firefox or Edge, you must have synced data between devices, which has cloud as the mid point already. So Timeline is just a smart way of accessing you history with more features. If you still don't want to access it then you can turn it off.

And you know already how much data you're sharing with Google, that's nothing to be told if you use Chrome or Android, unless you explicitly turn it off.

 

There's nothing to panic man!

@Rohit Yadav 


There's nothing to panic man!


You made me laugh man. Who mentioned panicking here? Trying to point to some UI ticks like in a kindergarten? Even if you deselect everything relevant to privacy in Windows Settings, you can easily find out what a user did each day. The right question is, how many folks use Timeline?

 

Folks spend months deciphering constantly changing websites list MS sends their private data (telemetry) to, written non-stop even if you don't do anything on your PC. I can point you to 2-3 year old threads with constantly updated block lists. Some say companies like MS and Google just fulfill feds contracts on spying over word population. If you have a good Firewall, look where and how often your stuff is sent. Whenever you install ANY program on your PC, MS wants a copy of it or its info into their cloud - just look what Compatibility Assistant does. 

 

But I like Edge Chromium team at least declared they will look at privacy issues as a major browser selling point. 

@sambul95 

As an IT Pro security & privacy concerns are paramount. I won't included google in this, but, in regard to MS & Windows being interested in User activity or usage, "spying" does not apply.  IF you look at what Users do you can tailor & build a better, more appealing OS accordingly. The difference that makes this "spying" suggestion invalid is personal data is not collected.  OS use trends & personal data should not be confused.  The former is helpful to continuing to improve the OS. The latter is not in the picture.

It's not necessarily productive to assume how many Global End Users make use of Timeline.  There is much to suggest many do, but, an assumption either way doesn't change that Timeline is part of Win10, it works with the OS's default browser and it has heaps of helpful & cool capabilities. That's the fact.  Nor is there anything bad about Timeline.  Whether End Users use it or not, how many of them or how much they use it or how they use it, doesn't change anything about Timeline.

Cheers,
Drew 
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@Drew1903 

Whether I agree or disagree with you, I still like your style and the way you push things forward. :smiling_face_with_smiling_eyes:

 

The truth is we don't know much about what is collected and how its used, but of course undoubtedly the collected info is also used to improve OS and programs experience. What I say is in some instances MS crossed the tolerance threshold, like demanding users to keep their private notes in the cloud even if they categorically refuse to do so. 

 

In fact, the opposite may happen - applying such force may backfire with a large number of class actions as OneNote 2016 ages. Because users pay for Win 10 OneNote when they buy Windows, but despite paying for it they can't use it because it rudely and forcefully against their will invades their privacy when used. And no-one is offering money back.

 

There is nothing bad about Timeline. But its utmost relevant how many people use it. The same applies to Edge Classic - there was nothing bad about it. I enjoyed it for efficient video playback. With just a few tabs open, Edge Classic rendered pages faster than any other browser. I really like it - but did I use it much - only seldom as a quick alternative, because: a) no extensions choice; b) bad RAM and Cache management. Despite all these niceties - you see what happen to Edge Classic?

 

Now, I agree with you that MS own browser should capitalize on OS features and services as much as possible. The art is - doing it behind the scene, not by overloading browser UI and main Settings. Another thing is - don't cut the choice, stuff that now attracts users to Chrome, like apps and privacy & ad free browsing experience via various extensions. Look at VPN service dynamics - it evolves now from hiding your IP and traffic encryption service into a virus & ads blocker and browser fingerprints hiding service. Now look at rate of demand and VPN fast growing global revenue. This shows what priorities users have on their minds.

 

Back to that guy who suggested me not to panic. :rolling_on_the_floor_laughing: I just observe world usage trends, its not the same as panicking. 

@sambul95 Well, it must to you about the kindergarten stuff, but isn't. The which you are saying is:

 

1. Collected anonymously. It is used for improving services and nothing else.

2. FYI you can disable that data using switching the diagnostic data to basic type. 

3. And on your concern in regards to Telemetry & Diagnostic data, you can all view it and delete it.

 

"Whenever you install ANY program on your PC, MS wants a copy of it or its info into their cloud - just look what Compatibility Assistant does. "

Do you know what the Program Compatibility Assistant does? How do you expect them to solve your program problems, when you are not even wiling to share program data?

 

The practices of Google and Microsoft is completely different. Google uses your data to target you with ads, Microsoft does not. There is a whole lot of difference between data collected anonymously for improvement of services, and collecting data by your personal identifiers, building a profile around you, and use it to target you with ads...

@Rohit Yadav 

 

Microsoft and Google learn "best practices" from each other and the rest, and its natural in this competitive world. One can log off Google accounts and do other customizations offered in UI just like they are offered in Windows UI. Beyond that we don't know what the code does.

 

I think its silly to fully sync your private and professional life through multiple 3rd party servers. Actually its rather a topic for security forum. Pls address your future "explanations" to someone else. :ok_hand: :smiling_face_with_smiling_eyes:

 

@sambul95 Yea, I would keep my explanations definitely to those who listen and want to act on it, unlike you, who even of understanding the privacy controls, instead keep on nagging things. 

 

Cheers and Good Luck!

Another vote for this feature: I never used Timeline before because it didn't have my browser (Firefox).

Having it now, without an extension, would be fantastic and I'd actually use the Timeline feature.

@ikjadoon 

Once Edge C is Win10's default browser, (I suggest) it will work with Timeline.  To have it work with Dev, (for) now (or, in the meantime), I made Dev the default browser & grabbed the Timeline extension from the Chrome store. 

And, certainly, if one is using Edge, now, that does, of course, work, now, with Timeline.

Cheers,
Drew
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@Drew1903  

 

I'd like to test Timeline more with a local acc. What's your usual workflow with Timeline? What do you mostly use it for?

 

How come you can't find the threads you started while equipped with such a power horse? 8)

To get Edge Chromium to support Timeline, install the Web Activities extension for Chrome.  I installed it and it worked but stopped working since Jun 26 :unamused_face:.  Hope this will be fixed soon.

 

[Update: Jul 6]  It started working again.  My browsing history (Edge Chromium) started to show up in Timeline (Web Activities)

this is worse for me since it never worked

@Deleted 

Y'all might give THIS ONE a go.  Seems to do the trick for the time being.

Cheers,
Drew
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@Deleted Try reinstalling the extension, it would surely help. Earlier it wasn't working for me also, now it is working fine...
Check if you have this extension only: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/web-activities/eiipeonhflhoiacfbniealbdjoeoglid

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best response confirmed by Drew1903 (Silver Contributor)
Solution

@sambul95 

Sam,

You are mixing apples & oranges.  Browser History and having the browser work with Windows 10  Timeline are 2 (very) different things. Sure, one can hold the back button to see past visits & manage that; nothing new.

Timeline is more about the OS than, the browser.  It's a Feature of Win10 not, of the browser  The browser just has to be compatible with it.

But, Win10 Timeline exists & works, inherently not, 'forced', with the default browser as part of the OS.  It can go back a long way (in time), show heaps more activities (than browser history) and one can, actually, 'see' those sites rather than just a list. Plus, there is how one can handle what shows in Timeline, the 'controls' or 'tools' it has AND its search ability.  Lastly, it is a nice help when navigating across multiple desktops.

Anyway, the point is, Win10 Timeline works with Edge.  But, right now (hopefully this changes, soon!), Timeline will not work with Edge C without adding an extension from the Chrome store.  Having to do that should not be necessary any more than it is w/ Edge.

 

TS.jpg

Sure Timeline is browser history, BUT, it is far more than what the back button gives:exclamation_mark:  If Win10 offers one all the neat stuff it does, one may as well, actually, use the stuff & be able to use it.

Cheers,
Drew



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