Microsoft must be aware of how often Edge users find themselves drowning in tabs. The Redmond-based tech giant has been conjuring up new ideas to pull disorganized web surfers out of the tab-heavy browsing sessions. In March, Microsoft introduced vertical tabs, which transform the chaotic horizontal mess into a manageable column of sites.
According to a new Reddit post (via TechRadar), Microsoft is reportedly working on a new, helpful feature to help frazzled Edge users: searchable tabs.
Microsoft Edge will reportedly make Edge tabs searchable
Ever been so swamped in tabs that the thought of combing through all of them to find the one you need makes you want to pull your hair out? Fortunately, the Edge team created a solution for this.
"Although the 'Tab Search' feature is not officially available in Edge yet (either via a flag or enabled by default), Microsoft continues to work on it behind the scenes," popular Redditor Leo Varela posted. "Back in February, Microsoft changed the command line flag to enable the feature, and today they have added a new "Search tabs" item to the Tab actions menu(Edge Canary)."
In other words, Varela has been keeping tabs (heh-heh) on the new tab-search feature since they discovered it in its early testing stages. Six months ago, Varela enabled the tab-search feature via a command-line flag, which requires a little more work than simply typing in edge://flags in the address bar to access experimental features.
Now, Varela spotted that Microsoft added “Search tabs” to the Tab actions menu in Edge Canary. For the unimitated, the Tabs action menu can be used to access vertical tabs and other tab-related options. Check out the GIF below to see the new feature in action.
After clicking "Search Tabs," a pop-up menu appears, allowing users to vertically scroll through their currently opened tabs. There's also a "Recently Closed" section, too.
Varela also noticed minuscule visual changes to the tab-search feature since he discovered it in February. "The hover effect on the 'Close tab' buttons is now square," Varela said. It used to be round.
If Edge rolls out this new tab-search feature to the public, it may certainly make it a more attractive browser. As of June, Edge only captured 3.4% of the browser market share and it's in fifth place behind Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Samsung, according to Statista. Microsoft needs all the help it can get to beat its rivals.
