Edge Dev 81.0.416.3 Features PDF Improvements and new tools

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Microsoft releases a new Dev build of Microsoft Edge Chromium. Edge Dev 81.0.416.3 is released to Insiders with a number of new features, which include the ability to remove duplicate favorites, the ability to highlight text in PDFs, support for web-optimized PDFs, and more.

Here's what's new in Edge Dev 81.0.416.3

Added features

  • Added blue color to the account button in InPrivate windows as suggested by user feedback.
  • Added a tool on the Favorites management page to remove duplicate favorites.
  • Enabled Collections sync for all channels that currently have Collections available.
  • Added the ability to highlight text in PDFs.
  • Added support for web-optimized PDFs that download one page at a time as they’re viewed.
  • Added a feature to Immersive Reader to focus on only one or a few lines at a time.
  • Added a dialog to inform users when an extension is disabled because it has the ability to change settings (new tab page, search provider, etc.)
  • Added a message when a user tries to use IE mode and Internet Explorer isn’t installed.
  • Added support for syncing the “Sign in automatically” setting under edge://settings/passwords.
  • Added an option in edge://settings/profiles/multiProfileSettings to choose a default profile to use when opening links in external applications.
  • Added a management policy controlling the ability to import Top Sites from another browser.
  • Added a management policy controlling the ability to import Extensions from another browser.
  • Added a management policy controlling the ability to import Cookies from another browser.
  • Added a page to Settings to help users download Edge mobile.

Improved reliability

  • Fixed an issue where saving a PDF sometimes crashes the tab.
  • Fixed an issue where watching encrypted video from sites like Netflix sometimes causes the device to freeze.  Note that this issue is actually fixed by updating to the latest video drivers, so the Edge fix for this is to avoid the issue by degrading video playback on devices with old drivers.
  • Fixed some issues where signing into the browser fails, or succeeds but doesn’t allow for sync.
  • Fixed a crash on browser shutdown for users of Family Safety.
  • Fixed a browser crash during the First Run Experience.

Changed behavior

  • Fixed an issue where text on a webpage would occasionally appear corrupted.
  • Fixed an issue where the “Move to new window” tab context menu entry contains a gibberish string.
  • Fixed an issue where the Jumplist is missing or has incorrect entries.
  • Fixed an issue where the keyboard shortcut to start Read Aloud isn’t shown in menus.
  • Fixed an issue where changing settings on the New Tab Page sometimes results in the settings not getting applied to subsequent new tabs until the browser is restarted.
  • Fixed an issue where IE mode can’t be used and gives a message that Internet Explorer isn’t installed even though it is.
  • Fixed an issue where a message that a new Edge window can’t be opened because Edge is currently running with administrator privileges is unexpectedly seen.
  • Fixed an issue where dropping an extension file or folder onto the Extensions page when Developer Mode is enabled doesn’t install the extension.
  • Fixed an issue where the UI to switch profiles when opening a link has invisible text in Dark Theme.
  • Fixed an issue where some images weren’t loading in Immersive Reader.
  • Fixed an issue where new profiles sometimes show the option to sign into the browser even though sign in is disabled via management policy.
  • Fixed an issue where toggling certain website permission settings doesn’t update the UI.
  • Fixed an issue where certain DRM-protected video only shows a black screen on HDR-capable devices.
  • Fixed an issue where creating a new Collection or viewing a Collection appears to rename all existing Collections to “Collections”.
  • Fixed an issue where dragging a link into a Collection doesn’t properly add the item.
  • Fixed an issue where re-ordering items in a Collection using the keyboard doesn’t scroll the pane as the item is moved beyond the current window size.
  • Permanently disabled Flash on ARM64 devices.

Known issues

  • Some users are seeing favorites get duplicated after we made some fixes in that area last month.
  • The dialog to install a website as an app sometimes doesn’t appear.  In those cases, interacting with the address bar or navigating in the same tab will sometimes bring it up.
  • Users of certain security software packages will see all tabs fail to load with the error STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION. The only way to prevent this behavior is to uninstall that software. We’re currently engaging with the developers of that software to try to find a fix.
  • After an initial fix for it recently, some users are still experiencing Edge windows becoming all black. UI popups like menus are not affected and opening the Browser Task Manager (keyboard shortcut is shift + esc) and killing the GPU process fixes it.  Note that some of these fixes don’t yet exist in the Stable channel, and the issue only appears to affect users with certain hardware.
  • There are some issues where users with multiple audio output devices sometimes don’t get any sound from Edge. In one case, Edge becomes muted in the Windows Volume Mixer and unmuting it fixes it.  In another, restarting the browser fixes it.
  • At certain zoom levels, there is a noticeable line between the browser UI and the web contents.

Microsoft recently released the first stable version of Microsoft Edge Chromium to the public. Surprisingly, Microsoft Edge is still supporting a number of aging Windows versions, including Windows 7, which has recently reached its end of support. Check out Windows Versions Supported by Microsoft Edge Chromium.

Interested users can download MSI installers for deployment and customization.

For pre-release versions, Microsoft is currently using three channels to deliver updates to Edge Insiders. The Canary channel receives updates daily (except Saturday and Sunday), the Dev channel is getting updates weekly, and the Beta channel is updated every 6 weeks. Microsoft is going to support Edge Chromium on Windows 7, 8.1 and 10, alongside macOS, Linux (coming in the future) and mobile apps on iOS and Android.

Actual Edge versions

The actual versions of Edge Chromium at the moment of this writing are as follows:

You will find many Edge tricks and features covered in the following post:

Hands-on with the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge

Also, see the following updates.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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