Microsoft Edge is getting AI Notebook and Designer Image editor

Microsoft has updated the Edge browser by adding two AI features, named AI Notebook and Designer Image editor. Both are currently experimental features and need to be enabled manually.

AI Notebook in Edge

The Notebook option is part of the Copilot sidebar. It allows you to express your mind with help of artificial intelligence. The UI includes two areas. In the upper section you are entering the text, as it suggests you what else you can type on the topic. The lower section includes more details on the topic generated by ChatGPT. It uses the Internet resources to collect the information and provide the summary with sources it used.

Edit image in Designer

Another addition is a new Edit entry in image context menu. It opens a new tool, Designer Image editor. It includes several options for quick image editing, powered by AI. Currently you can blur or remove the background, change image brightness, contrast, saturation, temperature and sharpness. Finally, there is a galore of filters.

Once you finish the adjustments, you can download the result on your local PC, or copy it to the clipboard.

Both features are hidden in Edge Canary starting in version 124.0.2465.0, here's how to enable them.

Enable AI Notebook and Designer Image editor in Microsoft Edge

1. Launch the Edge browser.
2. Navigate to Menu > Settings > System & performance.
3. On the right, disable the Startup boost option.
4. Now, right-click the Edge Canary icon on your desktop, and select properties.
5. In the properties dialog on the shortcut tab, add --enable-features=msEdgeChatNotebookHeaderIcon,msEditImageWithDesigner after msedge.exe.  You will get this line: "path\to\msedge.exe" --enable-features=msEdgeChatNotebookHeaderIcon,msEditImageWithDesigner.
6. Relaunch the browser using the modified shortcut.
7. Now, click on any image on any website, and select Edit from the context menu. This will open the image in the Designer Image Editor.
8. Finally, click on the Copilot icon in the toolbar to open its sidebar. Then click the three vertical dots button, and select Notebook.  The AI Notebook will appear in the sidebar.

You are done! I would like to say huge thanks to HotCakeX for tipping me.

The last note: You may wonder why we have disabled the Startup Boost option? Well, if you omit this step, the Edge browser will remain running in the background (for faster start) and will spawn new instances from that background processes, completely ignoring the command line arguments of the shortcut. So the shortcut modification will have no effect with the Startup Boost setting on.

That's it.