The Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser is getting better by the minute. It is now fairly feature-packed and available on multiple platforms, including Linux.
At the same time, Microsoft continues to test new features and additions to help users streamline their browsing experience. One such new addition is integrating Office more deeply in the browser, specifically its Office apps on the web.
As discovered, the latest Edge Canary build has an option in the context menu of the tabs.
Right-clicking on a tab in the window opens an updated context menu that features an option called “New Office tab.” Inside this menu are more granular options for a Word document, PowerPoint presentation, and Excel workbook.
Clicking on either one fires up the respective program’s web app, which is synced with your OneDrive account in the browser.
It also appears that this new Office integration will not be exclusive to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so you will be able to access it with a normal Microsoft account as well.
It is worth highlighting that the capability is still being tested in preview channels, meaning there is no guarantee that it will make its way to the general public. Only a small subset of Insiders has access to it as part of controlled testing by Microsoft.
What’s more concerning is that there is no option currently to disable this feature on the current build. Not everyone is thrilled with this, and some voices want to toggle this option off altogether.
Perhaps the company might offer one.
If this feature makes it to the stable release.
