Microsoft Edge getting Office integration

Microsoft Office

The Chromium based Microsoft Edge is a browser that is getting better by the minute. Not only is it now fairly feature packed, it is also 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 the integration of Office more deeply in the browser, or more specifically its Office apps on the web.

As discovered, the latest Edge Canary build has an option in the context menu of the tabs.

Edge Office Integration

Right-clicking on a tab in the window, you get an updated context menu that now features an option called “New Office tab”. Nested inside these are more granular options for a Word document, PowerPoint presentation, and Excel workbook.

Edge Office Integration

Clicking on either one fires up the web app of the respective program, 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.

Worth a highlight 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 there are voices that want to toggle this option off altogether.

Perhaps the company might offer one.

If this feature makes it to the stable release.