Microsoft Edge gets built-in themes, Linux sign-in & sync and more new features with Dev channel update

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Microsoft Edge Dev Update

Microsoft is now officially rolling out a new update to the Microsoft Edge browser. The latest update to Microsoft Edge is rolling out in Development channel with some new features and improvements.

Speaking of the update, the latest build comes with build version 91.0.831.0 and is being rolled out in the development channel branch of the Edge browser from Microsoft. The company has clearly mentioned in the blog post that there are two major features that they are most excited about.

The first one is support for in-built themes in Microsoft Edge which can be selected from edge://settings/appearance. The second feature worth mentioning here is support for sign-in and sync for Linux users which is great and takes the cross platform compatibility to the next level.

As always, a detailed changelog is given below,

Changelog:

  • First, we’re introducing built-in Edge themes! These themes are simple color schemes that can be chosen from edge://settings/appearance, and you can read more about them here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/articles/personalize-microsoft-edge-with-built-in-theme-color….
  • We’re also starting to roll out sign-in and sync for Linux users! Please note that this is only supported for personal Microsoft Accounts at the moment, and you may need to enable a flag in order to see this setting. To read more, as well as view some troubleshooting steps, click here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/articles/users-can-now-sign-in-and-sync-their-favorites-with-….
  • Next, we’re excited to announce our commitment to cross-browser website compatibility. To read more about this multi-company effort, click here: https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2021/03/22/better-compatibility-compat2021/.
  • Finally, we’ve got a fun opportunity for Collections users. We’re running a survey to learn more about how you use them, and as an incentive to contribute, you may even win some money! To contribute to our research, take the survey here: https://microsoft.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eWkUzl9D05MxqUS.

Added features:

  • Added an option to the right-click menu to open the current page in Immersive Reader. Note that this option is only available on pages that are eligible for
    Immersive Reader to begin with.
  • Added the ability to use the system theme on Linux.
  • Added a management policy to control opening a PDF in Secure Mode. Note that updates to documentation or administrative templates may not have occurred yet.
  • Added a management policy to control if New Tab Page Content is Enabled, specifically content from Microsoft News. Note that updates to administrative templates or documentation may not be available yet.

Improved reliability: 

  • Fixed a crash on launch. 
  • Fixed a crash when using Family Safety. 
  • Fixed a crash when submitting feedback. 
  • Fixed an issue where navigating to certain websites crashes Edge in Kiosk mode. 
  • Fixed an issue where Application Guard windows sometimes unexpectedly close. 
  • Fixed an issue where Edge crashes on close, causing the prompt to restore tabs to unexpectedly appear the next time it’s opened. 
  • Fixed an issue where websites like Youtube sometimes crash soon after loading. 
  • Fixed an issue where PWAs or websites installed as apps sometimes fail to open. 
  • Fixed an issue where the Web Widget sometimes appears frozen or blank. 
  • Fixed an issue where some websites don’t load the first time when using Family Safety, forcing the user to manually re-load the page. 
  • Fixed an issue where URL suggestions when the typed URL results in a failed navigation but is similar to a known URL are broken. 

Changed behavior

  • Fixed an issue where the autofill suggestion popup appears more times than expected per page. 
  • Fixed an issue where autofill popups appear on fields where they aren’t relevant or expected. 
  • Fixed an issue where pinning a website to the Start menu via the edge://apps menu fails. 
  • Fixed an issue where clicking a desktop notification from a PWA or website installed as an app doesn’t open the app to that specific content if the app wasn’t open. 
  • Fixed an issue where the right-click menu option to add all tabs to a Collection sometimes is disabled unexpectedly in one menu when it works in another. 
  • Fixed an issue where images sometimes don’t load when viewing pages in Immersive Reader. 
  • Fixed an issue where printing via an extension fails. 
  • Fixed an issue where media keys on keyboards sometimes don’t work. 
  • Fixed an issue where individual tabs can’t be restored from previous windows in the Recently Closed section of the History popup because the windows don’t expand.
  • Fixed an issue where users with multiple cameras are sometimes unable to switch which camera a website is using because the selection dropdown is disabled. 
  • Fixed an issue where tab hover cards sometimes get stuck onscreen, even over other applications. 
  • Fixed an issue where Kids Mode sometimes can’t be escaped from since re-opening Edge after exiting Kids Mode results in going right back into Kids Mode. 
  • Fixed an issue where the management policy to Redirect Sites From Internet Explorer Prevent BHO Install sometimes doesn’t work after updating Edge. 
  • Deprecated the management policy to control whether or not Tab Freezing is Enabled.  This policy has been succeeded by management policies for Sleeping Tabs. 

Known issues: 

  • Certain extensions such as the Microsoft Editor extension don’t work on Linux.  As soon as they’re installed, they crash and are disabled.  We’re currently investigating. 
  • Users of certain ad blocking extensions may experience playback errors on Youtube.  As a workaround, temporarily disabling the extension should allow playback to proceed.  See this help article for more details. 
  • Some users are still running into an issue where all tabs and extensions immediately crash with a STATUS_INVALID_IMAGE_HASH error.  The most common cause of this error is outdated security or antivirus software from vendors like Symantec, and in those cases, updating that software will fix it. 
  • Users of the Kaspersky Internet Suite who have the associated extension installed may sometimes see webpages like Gmail fail to load.  This failure is due to the main Kaspersky software being out of date, and is thus fixed by making sure the latest version is installed. 
  • Some users are still seeing favorites get duplicated.  This issue should be reduced now that automatic deduplication has been introduced into Insider channels, but we’re still rolling that out in Stable.  We’ve also seen duplication happen when running the manual deduplicator on multiple machines before either machine has a chance to fully sync its changes, so make sure to leave plenty of time in between runs of the deduplicator. 
  • Some users are seeing “wobbling” behavior when scrolling using trackpad gestures or touchscreens, where scrolling in one dimension also causes the page to subtly scroll back and forth in the other.  Note that this only affects certain websites and seems to be worse on certain devices.  This is most likely related to our ongoing work to bring scrolling back to parity with Edge Legacy’s behavior, so if this behavior is undesirable, you can temporarily turn it off by disabling the edge://flags/#edge-experimental-scrolling flag.