Microsoft Edge is getting Workspaces, new security features, and accessibility improvements

Back in April 2021, we learned that Microsoft is working on a new feature in its Edge browser, called Workspaces. They let a user rename a window and save all of the tabs open on it for later. It may sound similar in concept to Collections, but Workspaces open in their own separate window each time, so you can always have a specific window to focus on a certain task. Workspaces persist across browsing sessions, too, and you can close the window and reopen the workspace later.

While it was testing Workspaces last year, it inexplicably removed it from Insider channels before adding it back in a few months ago. Today, Microsoft is ready to officially unveil Edge Workspaces.

At its Ignite 2022 conference, Microsoft has encouraged IT admins and organizations to give Workspaces a go via Edge Enterprise. A key benefit that the company has highlighted is improvements to the onboarding experience where rather than overloading a new employee with files and URLs, they can just be given a link to an Edge Workspace containing all the information that they need in separate tabs. These tabs would also update in real-time for the entire team that they are shared with. If this sounds interesting to you, you can sign up for Edge Workspaces through this page.

Microsoft essentially reminded IT professionals of a couple of Edge security features, now generally available. These include the Enhanced security mode, made available to consumers a couple of months ago and available as an opt-in for enterprise use-cases. The other is built-in protection against typosquatting.

Finally, on the accessibility front, we have live captions, instant answers, and an improved Narrator with a better navigation experience generally available, while page colors to manage readability and contrast are now in preview. You can read more about these updates here.