What you need to know
- Microsoft is testing a new feature in Edge called “Save screenshot of site for History” in the Dev and Canary Channels.
- The feature is designed to take screenshots of all the sites you visit while browsing the web and saves them in History for future reference and use.
- It’s optional and disabled by default.
- Microsoft hasn’t disclosed safety parameters for this feature.
Microsoft Edge is arguably one of the best browsers, and Microsoft continues to push updates and new features to enhance its user experience. And while most of these features are handy and useful, users have found some additions redundant, stating that the company is bloating the browsing experience.
Be it as it may, Microsoft continues to ship new updates to the browser on a regular basis. Soon, Edge might ship with a new optional feature that screenshots each page you visit.
Microsoft Edge 117 has already shipped to the Canary and Dev channels featuring a new Save screenshot of site for History toggle. “We’ll take screenshots of the sites you visit and save it so that you can quickly revisit the site you want from history,” says the description of the feature.
Essentially, the feature will capture your digital footprint while using Edge. Leopeva64 on X shared a snippet of the feature in action, as highlighted below:
…Basically Microsoft added a toggle in Settings that has the exact same purpose as the button in the History hub, if the button is OFF the toggle is disabled, and if the button is ON the toggle is enabled, it has nothing to do with supposed “offline reading” capabilities: pic.twitter.com/X9Xcv4QmwpAugust 6, 2023
Notably, when hovering your cursor over the save webpages, you’ll be able to preview the thumbnail, thus making it easy to find what you’re looking for quicker. A few weeks ago, Microsoft started testing a similar feature in Windows 11’s Start menu.
Great idea, questionable execution
Microsoft’s safety parameters, as far as this feature is concerned, remain unclear. If the feature screenshots everything you’re doing on the web, isn’t it a great risk, especially when visiting sensitive sites with private and confidential information you’d not like to share with anyone? What happens if you get hacked, and unauthorized parties gain access to these screenshots?
Luckily, it’s an optional feature and is disabled by default. However, if you’ve already enabled it and want to shut it down, head to Settings and select Privacy and Services, then click on the Save screenshot of site for History toggle to disable the feature.
We’ll have to wait for Microsoft to share more information regarding this feature and if there will be an option to exclude certain web pages from being affected despite it being enabled. Otherwise, it’s a great feature that will refine the browsing experience in Edge further, ultimately enhancing productivity.
