Enable PWAs App Icon Shortcut Menu in Chrome and Edge

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How to Enable PWAs App Icon Shortcut Menu in Chrome and Edge

The two Chromium-based browsers, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, have received a new feature. When enabled, it allows progressive web apps (PWAs) to have a shortcut menu entry for their tasks. Right-clicking on such a PWA pinned to the taskbar would open a menu with actions defined by the app.

The feature allows you to access a number of features of web apps directly when they right-click on a pinned PWA. It also works on recent Android versions. There, you have to tap and hold on the app icon on the Home screen. Its custom actions will appear in the app menu.

Image credits: Tomas Steiner

Currently, the ability to access shortcut menu is hidden behind a flag. Here is how to enable it in Chrome or Microsoft Edge. As of now, you need the latest Canary build for any of them.

To Enable PWAs App Icon Shortcut Menu in Chrome and Edge,

  1. Open the browser.
  2. Type the following in the address bar for Chrome: chrome://flags/#enable-desktop-pwas-app-icon-shortcuts-menu
  3. Type the following in the address bar for Edge: edge://flags/#enable-desktop-pwas-app-icon-shortcuts-menu
  4. Set the option Desktop PWAs app icon shortcuts menu to Enabled.
  5. Restart the browser.

You are done.

Now, to test the feature in action, open the following web site and install it as a web application.

The addition of the PWA shortcut menu is part of Google’s efforts to promote PWA technology. The company is actively implementing it for its own applications, followed by Microsoft, which is now using the same Chromium project for the Edge browser.

Actual Edge Versions


Download Microsoft Edge

You can download pre-release Edge version for Insiders from here:

Download Microsoft Edge Insider Preview

The stable version of the browser is available on the following page:

Download Microsoft Edge Stable


Microsoft Edge is now a Chromium-based browser with a number of exclusive features like Read Aloud and services tied to Microsoft instead of Google. The browser has already received a few updates, with support for ARM64 devices in Edge Stable 80. Also, 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 and Edge Chromium latest roadmap. Finally, 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. Windows 7 users will receive updates until July 15, 2021.


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.

2 thoughts on “Enable PWAs App Icon Shortcut Menu in Chrome and Edge”

  1. Hello, thank you for you demo of pwa shortcuts but i see that there’s a problem,
    both shortcuts go to saved chonks, new chonk shortcut doesn’t really work.

    i installed the app with a dev edge based ( v84) and chrome dev ( v84) and i have the same issue. did you ever manage to make it work ? and is it still ok with current browsers ?

    thx
    louis

    1. It is an experimental feature, and still a work-in-progress. Quite possible that it may be broken in latest preview releases. Let’s wait a little to get it working again.

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