Microsoft Edge to get updated PDF reader: What you need to know

Microsoft Edge
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft on Monday published a roadmap to the PDF reader in the Edge browser. The company has added many new updates to the browser and its other branded software suites of late, and now PDFs are getting some attention. 

Microsoft stated that several new features were added that had been long-time requests by users and that the new features are now available across Windows, Mac, and Linux. Some of the new tools include support for the Table of Contents, page view (view a PDF in a book format), and others.

When annotating, you can now link in various colors and easily take text notes on a PDF.  A variety of features for enterprise and education, like the self explanatory Read Aloud, were also added.

Microsoft is also planning to add view recovery, which would remember the place where you were last reading in a document in cases when you're reading a lengthy PDF. Another addition will allow users to view MIP files protected in other tenants and validate certificate-based digital signatures.

Even further down the line, Microsoft is planning to add PDF file previews in File Explorer and Outlook and support adding text boxes for form filling. Lastly, you will be able to view labels of protected files and validate ETSI digital signatures.

The folks at Microsoft must get up very early in the morning to create all these upcoming updates. The recent flurry of updates to Microsoft-branded software makes one ponder what they could have up their sleeves on the hardware end, specifically with the Surface Pro

Mark Anthony Ramirez

Mark has spent 20 years headlining comedy shows around the country and made appearances on ABC, MTV, Comedy Central, Howard Stern, Food Network, and Sirius XM Radio. He has written about every topic imaginable, from dating, family, politics, social issues, and tech. He wrote his first tech articles for the now-defunct Dads On Tech 10 years ago, and his passion for combining humor and tech has grown under the tutelage of the Laptop Mag team. His penchant for tearing things down and rebuilding them did not make Mark popular at home, however, when he got his hands on the legendary Commodore 64, his passion for all things tech deepened. These days, when he is not filming, editing footage, tinkering with cameras and laptops, or on stage, he can be found at his desk snacking, writing about everything tech, new jokes, or scripts he dreams of filming.