A new browser compartmentalization tool looks to be on the way for Microsoft Edge, according to a new company roadmap entry, which indicates that Workspaces for Edge could be set for June 2023 general availability.
Workspaces work by allowing Edge users to share multiple groups of tabs and favorites with colleagues that can be built to accommodate numerous projects and teams.
Some users will already be familiar with Workspaces, which has been in public preview for over a year, and while others can look forward to Edge’s productivity boost, personal users will have to wait.
Edge Workspaces for business customers only
To be able to use Workspaces, users must have an Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) tenant and be running at least version 106 of Microsoft’s browser. It can also be enabled via Group Policy, and requires users to have access to OneDrive for Business.
The roadmap summary details how browsing tasks can be organized into their individual, dedicated windows, which are automatically saved and kept up to date to make online collaboration a breeze.
Microsoft’s public preview announcement paints the picture of a company’s recruitment team onboarding a new member of staff by sending one Edge Workspace, rather than a bunch of separate links. It can also be a handy tool if you find yourself returning to a regular task, whereby you will be able to jump straight into an open Workspace rather than loading each page individually.
Microsoft isn’t alone in its decision to make browsing more collaborative, though. Apple announced that its counterpart feature - Tab Groups for Safari - would launch with the release of iOS 15 and macOS Monterey toward the end of 2021. Google announced a similar feature for Chrome in mid-2020.
Microsoft’s decision to enable tab grouping for business users only (unlike Apple and Google, which enabled the tools for all users), is a peculiar one, but the company assures us that a wider rollout is on the cards.
Now in consumer preview, a Microsoft spokesperson told TechRadar Pro: "We are starting with a limited group of users to gather feedback and will expand to more users during the next several months. Beyond that, Microsoft has nothing to share."
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