Microsoft's transition from its in-house engine to Chromium for the Edge browser was mostly beneficial, but it came with some sacrifices to Edge-specific features. These include things like PDF markup tools, which were recently brought back with Edge 85. With version 87, it looks like Microsoft will be bringing back the download options offered by Edge Legacy, as announced on the Tech Community forums (via WindowsBlogItalia).
Prior to the shift to Chromium, Edge (and Internet Explorer before that) offered a few options when downloading a file. You could choose to save the file normally, save it with a specific name, or just open it - which would download the file to a temporary folder, to be deleted after closing the browser. These options were useful for download management, because you could simply open an installer for a program instead of having it take up space on your drive, or rename files to make them easier to find.
With the switch to Chromium, though, the download system became similar to that of Chrome itself - files download and save to your Downloads folder automatically. Now, starting with version 87.0.629.0, which is available for Edge Insiders in the Canary channel - and likely coming this week to the Dev channel - the old download options can be added back.
To enable them, you'll need to head to the Downloads page in Edge and enable the "Ask me what to do for each download" toggle. After that, Edge will do exactly that, giving users a bit more control. Finally, Microsoft has also added the option to delete downloaded files directly from the browser by right-clicking the target file and choosing the "Delete file" option.
We're still a ways off from version 87 hitting general availability, but the change is a welcome one nonetheless. You can always head here to join the Insider program if you don't want to wait.
16 Comments - Add comment