Microsoft Edge's new Search in Sidebar option is now available to all users, allowing you to search the web without opening a new tab or navigating away from the current page.
Performing online searches is about just more than using the likes of Google and Bing to jump to specific websites. Even when you're reading a page, you may need to perform an additional search related to what you are reading. You might need to look up the meaning of a word, or get some more background information about a news story.
Until now, this has meant navigating away from what you're reading and performing the secondary search in a new tab. But now, as OnMSFT reports, Microsoft Edge has a great new option that lets you perform contextual searches without breaking your flow.
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Until now, only beta testers who have been able to enjoy the Search in Sidebar option in Edge. As you can probably guess from the name, the feature lets you conduct searches in a sidebar in the browser rather than having to open a new tab. These means you can see the original page along with your search results at the same time.
When you perform a contextual search using the new feature, results and information are displayed in a sidebar to the right-hand side of the browser. You may find that this provides all the information you need, but you can also click on a result link to open it in a new tab to read in greater depth.
Searching on the side
To use it, make sure you have the latest version of Edge, then highlight a word, phrase, sentence or paragraph in the browser, right-click and select 'Search in Sidebar'. You can then browse through the list of results in the right-hand sidebar which will remain visible until you manually close it by hitting the 'X' button to the upper right.
You can also activate the sidebar search by highlighting some text and using the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[E].
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