The end of the year is almost here and for me it’s a time to reflect on everything our team has accomplished, celebrate successes and prepare for the year ahead. We launched the new Microsoft Edge last January and since that time we’ve come a long way – but we’re just getting started. With the new Microsoft Edge we’re challenging the status quo when it comes to the web and the browser, focusing on better privacy, stronger performance, saving time and providing value back.
With December only two weeks away, there’s no more putting off the decorating, the cooking and the holiday shopping. This holiday, many of us are trying to keep our family traditions alive, even at a distance, while saving money where we can (myself included). If you’ve already started your holiday shopping, you’re way ahead of me 😊. If not, there’s still time to tick everything off your list while saving time and money with Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Bing – we’ve got your back!
Microsoft Edge is the best browser for shopping this holiday. In fact, Microsoft Edge is the only browser with built-in tools to help you save time and money while shopping online with new features like auto-fill coupons and more proactive price comparisons. And this month, our new shopping hub, Shop the Look, and deals hub in Microsoft Bing make shopping even easier and quicker than before. And with many of us online more than ever, we want to be sure we’re safe when shopping online. Microsoft Edge is more secure than Chrome and Firefox by offering better protection against phishing and malware attacks on Windows 10. Just another reason to switch to Microsoft Edge. If you haven’t yet tried the new Microsoft Edge, launch it on your Windows PC and give it a spin. If you’re on a Mac or mobile device download it and let us know what you think!
Now for what’s new this month in Web Experiences:
Save time and money with coupons in Microsoft Edge on desktop and mobile
Coupons and promo codes are a great potential way to save money but they often require a lot of work to find, and too often they don’t work when you need them. That’s why I’m super excited to announce our new coupons feature in Microsoft Edge for desktop and mobile[1], which makes finding coupons faster and easier since the feature is built into the browser. When I visit a retailer site, Microsoft Edge will alert me if there are any coupons available for that site. I can view the list of coupons at any time by clicking on the blue shopping tag in the address bar. The real magic is that it proactively surfaces these coupon codes when I’m ready to checkout; all I have to do is copy and paste a code or have Edge auto-populate and try them all to determine which one will save me the most.
Help find the lowest price when shopping in Microsoft Edge
Last month, we unveiled price comparison in Collections to help you find the best price online. I’ve been using Collections to organize my gift ideas for the holidays, so having this built-in has been really helpful in saving me time. Today, we’re launching an even more proactive price comparison experience[2] that meets you where you shop. Now when you’re shopping for an item like a book, a cool sweater, or even the new Xbox your kid has been asking for, Microsoft Edge will check the prices at competing retailers to let you know if a lower price is available elsewhere. Click the blue price tag to see a list of prices along with direct links to the product page on those sites. If we determine you already have the lowest price, Microsoft Edge will let you know that too, saving your precious time and energy.
Shopping features like price comparison and coupons adhere to our privacy policies and are on by default. You can turn them off at any time by using the “…” button in the top right of the shopping flyouts or by going directly to Settings > Privacy, search, and services.
New tab page enhancements help you uncover holiday shopping deals
Growing up, I was always told that “if it’s not on sale, you can’t buy it!” This lesson has been seared into my memory and to this day, I’m always on the hunt for deals! This month on the Microsoft Edge new tab page, we’re launching new tools[3] to help bring the shopping deals to you. Once you’ve enabled this feature, you’ll get a customized set of up-to-the-minute retailer discounts to check out. To get started, on the new tab page in the Top Sites section, click on the plus sign and select Deals. You can also add the new Daily Brief suggestion under Top Sites to keep up with breaking news. This month, we’ve also added voice search capabilities to the new tab page. Just click on the microphone in the search box and start speaking.
Save money with our Deals Hub on Microsoft Bing
Microsoft Bing’s Deals Hub[4] also helps you when you’re hunting for savings. The Hub lets you browse the latest online deals across various retailers, sorted by popular products, brands, product categories and more. The deals featured on the Hub encompass retailer offers, price drops, Bing Rebates offers and more, to ensure you can see a variety of cost-saving opportunities all in one place.
Find the perfect holiday gift with our new curated shopping hub on Microsoft Bing
If you need some inspiration to find just the right holiday gift this year but don’t know where to start, we’ve thought about that too! Sometimes I don’t exactly know what my mom wants and I want to get inspired with new ideas. With our new shopping hub[5] on Microsoft Bing, I can browse and discover curated categories like home décor, gift ideas, clothing, jewelry and more. Visit Bing.com/shop to get your shopping on.
Quickly find outfits you’re looking for with Shop the Look
If you’re like me, you like to buy outfits of items that go together, and not just clothing items one at a time. Now you can use Shop the Look[6], which builds off previous Microsoft Bing visual search technologies to help you find your next favorite look. For example, if you need a new warm coat for the winter, you can search for “coats”; Microsoft Bing will show you a variety of different outfits to find the one you want. These results link right to the retailer’s page, so you can easily make your dream outfit a reality. We are currently working to expand this feature for all of our users and for more products.
Save time by seeing comprehensive product information in one place on the Bing Shopping tab
There are lots of items you might like to get detailed information on before you buy, such as when you’re looking into upgrading your devices. In these cases, you can quickly get comprehensive product details[7] on Microsoft Bing, which aggregates into a single view information like ratings from multiple top reviewers, item price trends over time, product specifications and user reviews on important product elements. Simply search for items you’re curious about on the Bing Shopping tab, click “Track price” or add it to your wish list, and from there click to see the details you need to buy the right device for you at the right price.
Easily take screenshots and mark them up directly in Microsoft Edge
Last month we announced web capture, an easy way to take screenshots of web pages within Microsoft Edge. Our next version of web capture is now generally available, adding the ability to digitally ink and annotate directly onto screenshots so you can edit and draw to your heart’s content. This has been our top requested feature and we are excited for you to use it. It’s very useful for students to capture online articles and annotate while studying, and also for sending not-so-subtle gift hints to your loved ones for the holidays. It’s also nice to have this capability native within the browser so there’s no longer a need to download or use a separate app! Later this month, you can also expect to see the ability to capture a full webpage with a click. That means no more scrolling or stitching together multiple screen grabs. To get started, select Web capture from the “…” menu in the top of the browser or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + Shift + S.
Annotate and add text to PDF documents in Microsoft Edge
People love reading PDFs in the browser, and now in addition to being able to highlight, this month we’ve added the ability to add text notes to your PDF within Microsoft Edge. This has been one of our most requested features and we’ve listened to your feedback. Now it’s really easy to read, annotate and add text to PDF files, perfect for students and for busy professionals. I just wish I had this back in grad school, it would have saved me so much time.
Enterprise users also get a revamped new tab page to stay dialed in at work
The new tab page doesn’t just help you find the best shopping deals after work – it also helps you optimize your workday. Previously, you had to choose between Office 365 content and news for your new tab experience; now, you’ll get the best of work and news in a single view when signed into Microsoft Edge with your Azure Active Directory work account. You can easily toggle between Office content and the new “My Feed” section, which brings you relevant work and industry news content that can be further personalized based on your interests. So whether you want to hop back into a shared PowerPoint from the Office 365 section or want to read the latest industry news in “My Feed,” just open a new tab in Microsoft Edge and stay in your flow. You can read more about this great feature.
Say goodbye to those long, ugly URL links
Imagine you are on a website with a great holiday gift idea and you want to email it to your friends. When you cut and paste the URL into Outlook or a Word doc, it’s super long with a ton of letters and numbers. It doesn’t look too good and you have to take the extra step of typing descriptive text in the doc, clicking on that text, and then adding a hyperlink to make it look good. Or you have to go download an extension or use another shortening tool from somewhere else out on the web. Waste of time! This month we are releasing a feature called friendly URLs, to help make things way easier. Now, when you paste a link that you copied from the address bar, it will automatically convert from a long, nonsensical URL address to a short hyperlink with the website title. If you prefer the full URL, you can convert to plain text using the context menu. Your doc or email looks clean without all the effort. In life, it’s sometimes the small things that make a huge difference.
Two screens are better than one. Experience the Microsoft News App and Microsoft Edge on Surface Duo
With the launch of Surface Duo last month, people are getting to experience Microsoft’s vision for the new way to get things done. With the flexibility of two screens, you can open an article without losing your place on a list of headlines, drag and drop to save videos to a playlist, or just make an article or gallery full-screen to take advantage of Surface Duo’s beautiful displays. Maybe my favorite feature though is book mode – where one article is sized just-right for reading across both screens, just like the pages of a book. It just feels natural with this device to flip pages, makes it easy to focus on one thing at a time, and the weight of the device will have you getting lost in headlines or videos without needing to change devices. I can’t wait to work my way through my book list this holiday season.
In addition to the news experience on Surface Duo, Microsoft News is built into Microsoft Edge, integrated into the Microsoft Launcher for Android and is available as a free standalone app. To read more about how Microsoft Edge works on Surface Duo, check out this post.
We hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday, and that Microsoft Edge and Bing help you save time and money this year!
[1] Coupons are currently available in U.S. markets and now available on desktop and iOS. Coming soon to Android.
[2] Price comparison is currently available on desktop versions of Microsoft Edge in U.S. markets.
[3] Deals on the new tab page are currently available in U.S. markets.
[4] Microsoft Bing’s Deals Hub is only available in U.S. and U.K. markets.
[5] Microsoft Bing Shopping Hub is only available in the following markets: U.S., U.K., A.U., C.A., D.E., F.R.
[6] Microsoft Bing Shop the Look is only available in U.S. markets.
[7] Microsoft Bing product details are only available in the following markets: U.S., U.K., A.U., C.A., D.E., F.R.
