Microsoft Edge has released a limited preview version of its Workspaces feature. This allows you to save and share multiple browser tabs with a single link. The preview last year gave us an overview of Workspaces, but this preview gives us a better idea of how it works.
Workspaces allows you to gather tabs related to a topic and save them in neatly labeled groups within Edge. This sounds similar to Edge’s Collections feature, which already allows you to save and organize webpages. However, Workspaces lets you share your saved tabs with colleagues who can make changes or add to them in real-time.
The Workspaces tab is located in the upper-left corner of your browser, as you can see from the screenshot. You can click on it to create and name your Workspace and assign it a color. The Workspace can now be filled with tabs that are relevant to your research. You can also share it with others who may want to view or contribute to your selection.
To do this, click the Invite link in Edge’s address bar and then hit copy link. The link can be sent via email, Slack or other messaging services. To view or edit your Workspaces, the person who receives the link must download Edge. You’ll be able to see their name and icon in your Workspace as well as the tab they are currently in when they accept the invitation. View any previous Workspaces by clicking the Workspace icon in the upper left corner of your browser.
Microsoft notes it won’t share your private information with other users when you use your Workspace, such as your passwords and downloads, collections or extensions. It won’t let other users view web content that you only have access to, such as your email inbox. And it won’t show you anything you are looking at outside of your Workspace. Access the Workspace preview if you have a computer.
The only problem I encountered when trying the feature was the fact that it opens a new tab immediately after you create a Workspace. If you have all your tabs open but have not opened a Workspace, you will need to copy and paste the contents to the Workspace after you have created one. Microsoft may be able to fix this issue before it makes the feature available to everyone.
