Top Feedback Summary for January 28

[MissyQ]

Note: This is no longer the most recent top feedback summary. You can always find the latest at https://aka.ms/MSEdgeTopFeedback.

Hey, Insiders! Welcome to this week’s Top Feedback Summary post. We have a few updates for you all.

We added a new item this week due to the amount of feedback we’ve received. Edge cannot find devices to cast media is now on the list to track our progress. We have no information on when this will be re-enabled, however you can follow the steps in last week’s summary as a work around. You’ll see updates here as we get them.

Allow sign-in to the browser with a Google account has moved to Not Planned this week. You can read more information on why that decision was made in the discussion thread for this topic.

Unfortunately, there’s a couple things that are being pushed out to next month. We now have the following items under Planned for February:

• Enable sync of installed browser extensions between devices
• Need for better handling of links when there is more than one profile.

Enable sync of browsing history between devices has moved from Planned for January to Planned for Summer. The team continues to work hard to bring this to the browser, however there are some architecture changes that need to be made which will impact the delivery of the feature. We will provide more updates around history sync as we get them.

You may notice that we’ve broken out our Quality Areas section! We feel this will better show what we continuously work on over time, rather than have a set schedule for when something is released or resolved.

Lastly, we have an update to two-finger scrolling! While we haven’t resolved everything around TouchPad scrolling, Clay posted a detailed explanation of where we are in this process.

Here’s the full updated list:

Status	Feedback	On this list for
Not Planned (View the discussion)	Allow sign-in to the browser with a Google account	23 weeks
Planned for January	Favorites sync issues, including sync not working, deleted favorites reappearing, and favorites being duplicated	8 weeks
Planned for January	Option to set a custom photo as the New Tab Page background photo	23 weeks
Planned for February	Enable sync of installed browser extensions between devices	11 weeks
Planned for February	Need for better handling of links when there is more than one profile	22 weeks
Planned for Summer	Enable sync of browsing history between devices	12 weeks
Planned	Edge cannot find devices to cast media	NEW!
Planned	Make Edge available on Linux	1 week
Planned	Support read aloud of PDF files	1 week
Planned	Provide option to keep specific cookies when choosing to clear browsing data on close	11 weeks
Planned	Provide an option to add a share button to the tool bar	13 weeks
Planned (Join the discussion)	Add the ability to ink on web pages	13 weeks
Planned (Join the discussion)	Touchpad two-finger scrolling is sometimes triggering a right click instead	21 weeks
Planned (Join the discussion)	Provide different options for sorting favorites	23 weeks
Planned (Learn more)	Support themes from the Chrome Web Store	23 weeks
Planned	Provide an option to prevent auto-play of video and audio when you open a website	23 weeks
In Discussion (Join the discussion)	Ask users if they want to close all tabs when they close a browser window	18 weeks
In Discussion (Join the discussion)	Provide a transparent theme for the browser frame	19 weeks
In Discussion (Join the discussion)	The address bar and its text are too big, and should be smaller like Chrome	21 weeks
In Discussion (Join the discussion)	Bring the tab set aside feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge	23 weeks
In Discussion (Join the discussion)	Update the user interface with the Fluent Design System	23 weeks
In Discussion (Join the discussion)	Make tabs more square and less rounded, like the current version of Microsoft Edge	23 weeks
In Discussion (Join the discussion)	Provide run / open / save / save as options when downloading files	23 weeks
In Discussion (Join the discussion)	Bring the Ask Cortana feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge	23 weeks
In Discussion (Join the discussion)	Bring the reading list feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge	23 weeks
Under Review	Opening a new tab is too slow	17 weeks
Under Review	Add an option to hide the Bing search bar on the new tab page	22 weeks
Under Review	Allow the search bar in the new tab page to be configured with other search providers	22 weeks
Under Review	Bring the tab preview feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge	22 weeks
Under Review	Provide an option to set a custom URL for a new tab instead of showing the new tab page	22 weeks
Not Planned	Support mouse gestures for common actions like navigation and tab close	13 weeks

And here’s the list of top “quality areas” that we’re actively working on in response to your feedback:

Bring more extensions to the extensions store

Edge should use less memory than it does

Edge should use less CPU than it does

Scrolling should feel smoother for web pages

Scrolling should feel smoother for PDF files

Definitions:

Addressed – Changes to address this feedback are visible to all users in the Canary and Dev channels

Not Planned – We don’t currently plan to address this feedback, though we will continue to track it and reconsider our approach if needed

Planned for… – We’re working on this and currently plan for it to be addressed in the Canary channel before the end of the month indicated

Planned - We have reviewed this feedback and have a plan to address it. However, we aren't ready to share a target time frame just yet. 

In Discussion – We’ve reviewed this feedback and to learn more we have started a discussion about it here in the Microsoft Edge Insider Forum

Under Review – We are reviewing this feedback internally and do not have a plan to share at this time.

Quality Area – We will give extra weight to fixes and opportunities in this area. Please continue to report specific bugs and make specific asks. 

Archive of previously addressed topics:

Feedback	On this list for	Addressed on
Add the ability to change the location for news content on the new tab page	20 weeks	Jan 22, 2020
Provide the ability to change the title of tiles on the new tab page	22 weeks	Jan 22, 2020
Enable search in the extensions store	17 weeks	Dec 19, 2019
The taskbar icon is not updating to the new Microsoft Edge logo	1 week	Nov 14, 2019
A round of improvements to scrolling experience, with more (including performance) to come down the line	12 weeks	Nov 14, 2019
YouTube.com does not render properly and appears extremely magnified	1 week	Nov 4, 2019
Bring the OneNote Web Clipper to the Microsoft Edge extensions store	4 weeks	Nov 4, 2019
Improve discoverability of the home button since some users are asking for it. (Join the discussion)	8 weeks	October 29, 2019
Microsoft Edge is crashing whenever a new tab is opened from a link	1 week	October 22, 2019
Inking for PDF files	9 weeks	October 22, 2019
Provide an option to remove the send feedback “smiley” button from the toolbar	1 week	October 15, 2019
Show the New Tab Page in dark theme when the browser is in dark theme	6 weeks	October 1, 2019
Add the ability to turn off the news feed on the new tab page	6 weeks	October 1, 2019
ClickOnce deployment of Windows applications from web pages	6 weeks	October 1, 2019
Website elements are being flipped upside down when switching between tabs	1 week	September 17, 2019
Sign-in profile picture is not always kept up to date	4 weeks	September 17, 2019
“Administrator Mode Detected” error message when opening the browser	2 weeks	September 4, 2019
Add a favorites button to the toolbar, for quicker access to favorites	1 week	August 29, 2019
Make it easier to share web content with other users and apps	1 week	August 29, 2019
Drop down menus in some web pages are not working	1 week	August 29, 2019
Add a dark theme to Microsoft Edge	Addressed before these posts started
Build translation capabilities into the browser	Addressed before these posts started
Delete browsing history on exit	Addressed before these posts started
Show favorites bar only on the new tab page	Addressed before these posts started
Bring back reading view	Addressed before these posts started
Sync data with my work or school account	Addressed before these posts started

[#2]

Hi @ikjadoon 

I am a program manager that works on history sync and I can empathize with your frustration. We, too, are upset that we must push out our shipping date. We also feel the move is necessary to ship a quality product. Sync is an important experience to get right. It has been no simple task, and we are working hard to make it great. We really appreciate that you have tested Edge and have shared feedback. We take customer feedback seriously and value your comments.

To speak more specifically, history sync is something we have been working on since we began the Chromium initiative. It is actually the most complex item we are syncing. While we use much of the Chromium code base, we have done a lot of work to ensure our experiences connect smoothly with Microsoft services. Sometimes this involves re-architecting Chromium code to better fit within the Microsoft ecosystem. History syncing has fallen into this bucket. We tried (for quite a while) to make it work with the existing code and protocols, but have decided we need a different approach better suited to our backend services. This ultimately provides a better experience for our users.

So all in all, I wanted to acknowledge your frustration and let you know we really care about doing this right and making Edge a great product. I also wanted to reiterate that we value your feedback and appreciate how engaged you are on this forum. 

[#3]

Hi @tojtojka ,

I'm a PM working on history sync and want to acknowledge your frustration. We have been working to ensure our backend systems can work with the Chromium code base. History is a complex item to sync and we made this decision to ensure we can release a quality experience. I can empathize with your frustration here. Thank you for your engagement in the tech community. It means a lot that you care about this feature enough to comment.

[#4]

@CMasterson Thank you very much for the update and overall explanation; very helpful! I suppose I was slightly frustrated when I heard that history sync would be pushed back a few months, but upon further reflection, I'd rather have this important feature set "rock-solid" when it's introduced as opposed to including something that wasn't ready for prime-time.

In my view, by the time summer rolls around (which, really, is not that far away), this delay will all be forgotten.

Thanks again to the Edge team; you have a great product that is now my browser of choice!

[#5]

@CMasterson 

Spoiler

---

@CMasterson wrote:

Hi @tojtojka ,

I'm a PM working on history sync and want to acknowledge your frustration. We have been working to ensure our backend systems can work with the Chromium code base. History is a complex item to sync and we made this decision to ensure we can release a quality experience. I can empathize with your frustration here. Thank you for your engagement in the tech community. It means a lot that you care about this feature enough to comment.

---

Thank you. extension syncing is definitely more important than History syncing.

History is something that can be generated dynamically by users any time. but installing extensions, specially when they come from different sources and stores, is really painful. so it was wise prioritizing extension syncing over History syncing.

[#6]

I disagree about what is more important. Extensions needs to be set up once on each machine. It's way harder to generate months or years of history.

I must admit, that I was on your team before - but after starting to use history actively, I almost don't use my favorites anymore. I started to use history in my Firefox sessions now and feel the power of having history synced across my devices.

But for me, I almost only use Edge on one machine, so it doesn't matter that much right now. Not a show stopper at all at the moment. And I would rather have history sync working correctly than it messing up.

[#7]

@ahl2ndc 

Spoiler

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@ahl2ndc wrote:
I disagree about what is more important. Extensions needs to be set up once on each machine. It's way harder to generate months or years of history.

I must admit, that I was on your team before - but after starting to use history actively, I almost don't use my favorites anymore. I started to use history in my Firefox sessions now and feel the power of having history synced across my devices.

But for me, I almost only use Edge on one machine, so it doesn't matter that much right now. Not a show stopper at all at the moment. And I would rather have history sync working correctly than it messing up.

---

Mate, there is no teams here, we are all normal users on our own, not playing football ;)

if it was up to me, I would hear a couple more developers and start working on History and Extension syncing simultaneously