Microsoft Edge

Looks familiar?

Edge’s layout is like Chrome, making for a smooth transition. 

View the edge window

Edge uses the same operating system as Chrome, so will already be familiar to you but is customised for Microsoft 365 

Customising home page

You can easily customise the start page with news, weather, quick links, etc 

View the home screen

1. Open Microsoft Edge
2. Click on the three-dot menu (⋯) in the upper-right corner of the browser window
3. Select Settings
4. Click on Appearance in the left-hand menu
5. Toggle the switch for Show home button
6. Set Home Page URL: Choose between the New tab page or Enter URL
7. To use staff essentials, enter: https://staff.port.ac.uk/staffessentials/
8. Close the settings tab.

Your new home page will be set and accessible via the home button on the toolbar

Create a profile

1. Open Microsoft Edge
2. Click on the profile icon in the upper-right corner of the browser window
3. It might look like a blank silhouette, a letter, or a custom image
4. In the drop-down menu, select Add Profile
5. Click on the Add button in the pop-up window that appears

Sign In or Continue Without Signing In

You can choose to sign in with a Microsoft account to sync your data across devices, or you can continue without signing in to create a local profile.

Customise Your Profile

Once the profile is created, you can customise it by:

1. Click on the profile icon
2. Select Manage profile settings
3. Modify the profile name, icon, and other settings

Switch Between Profiles

1. Click on the profile icon
2. Select the profile you want to use from the drop-down menu

Collections

Collections allows you to organise your web pages and Microsoft 365 documents

1. Open Microsoft Edge

Access Collections

1. Click on the Collections icon in the upper-right corner of the browser window

Note: It looks like a stack of papers.

Start a New Collection

1. Click on Start new collection.
2. Name your new collection a name by typing it in the box at the top and pressing Enter

Add Content to Your Collection

You can add content in several ways:

1. Click Add current page to save the entire webpage
2. Select and drag images, links, or highlighted text into the collection

Add Notes

1. Click on the Add note button to include your own notes

Organise Your Collection

1. Rearrange items by dragging them up or down within the collection.
2. You can also edit or delete items by right-clicking on them and selecting the appropriate option

Access and Manage Collections

To view and manage your collections:

1. Click on the Collections icon again

Note: You can open all items in a collection as tabs, export the collection to Excel, or share it via other apps.

Vertical Tabs

Our monitors are all rectangular, and therefore vertical tabs free up a few extra lines in the depth of our pages to see 

1. Open Microsoft Edge

Enable Vertical Tabs

1. Click on the Vertical Tabs icon at the top left corner of the browser window

Note: it looks like a small rectangle with a vertical line.

Access Settings

1. Click on the three-dot menu (⋯) in the upper-right corner
2. Select Settings
3. Go to Appearance

Note: Ensure the Show vertical tabs button is toggled on.

Switch to Vertical Tabs

1. Click the Turn on vertical tabs button at the left side of the tab bar

Your tabs will now appear in a vertical list on the left side of the screen.

Manage Tabs

You can easily switch between tabs, close tabs, and open new tabs from the vertical tabs pane.

To collapse the pane and save space:

1. Click the arrow at the top of the pane. Hover over the collapsed pane to expand it temporarily.

Customise and Group Tabs

1. Right-click on a tab to pin it, add it to a new group, or move it.

Note: You can also drag and drop tabs to reorder them within the vertical pane.

Using immersive reader

1. Navigate to the webpage you want to read using Microsoft Edge

Enter Immersive Reader

1. Click on the Enter Immersive Reader icon in the address bar or press (F9) on the top of the keyboard

Adjust Text Preferences

1. Use the toolbar at the top to adjust text size, spacing, and themes
2. Click on Text preferences to make these changes

Use Grammar Tools

1. Enable grammar tools to split words into syllables and highlight parts of speech like nouns, verbs, and adjectives

Note: This can be found in the toolbar under Grammar tools.

Read Aloud

1. Click on the Read Aloud button in the toolbar to have the text read out loud to you.
2. You can control the playback and choose different voice options

Set Reading Preferences

1. Customise your reading experience by using features like line focus, picture dictionary, and translation.

Note: These options are available under Reading preferences in the toolbar.

Finding and installing extensions

Whilst some extensions can be amazingly useful (Grammarly, for example), please be cautious adding extensions - If you are unsure, check with the Service Desk.

1. Open Edge

Access Extensions

Click on the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner of the Edge browser

1. Select “Extensions” from the drop-down menu

Get Extensions

1. Click on “Get extensions for Microsoft Edge”

Note: This will open the Microsoft Edge Add-ons store.

Browse or Search for Extensions

1. Use the search bar or browse through categories to find the extension you want to add

Add the Extension

1. Click on the required extension
2. Click the Get button
3. Review the permissions required by the extension and click “Add extension” to confirm.

Note: It is our security policy that you never add extensions that modify the Google part of your account. If you are unsure - please check.

Install Chrome Extensions (Optional)

If you want to add extensions from the Chrome Web Store, go to the Chrome Web Store in Edge

1. Enable “Allow extensions from other stores” at the top of the page

Note: Follow the same steps above to add the extension.

Manage Extensions

To manage your extensions, go back to the Extensions menu. Here, you can enable, disable, or remove extensions as needed.

Security

Edge can monitor and alert you if passwords are compromised

No other security features need to be customised

digitalskills@port.ac.uk offer a security briefing on demand and can run this session 1:1 or attend a team meeting.

InPrivate Browsing

InPrivate browsing is a good way to check if you cannot connect to a service or website.

Open InPrivate Window

1. Click on the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner of Edge
2. Select New InPrivate window

Browse Privately

In the InPrivate window, your browsing history, cookies, and site data are not saved once you close the window.

You can browse the web without leaving traces on your device.

Close InPrivate Window

1. When you are done, simply close the InPrivate window.
2. All browsing data from that session will be deleted automatically

Using Edge to manage Teams and Microsoft 365

We recommend that just as you used Chrome for Google, that you use Edge to work with Microsoft 365 and Teams.

Register

1. Visit Office.com and login with your University credentials

You will now be able to access Microsoft 365 services like Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, and more. 

Embed Office Apps in Edge

Utilise the Microsoft 365 apps pane in Edge to open and use Office apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint directly within the browser

Managing Files

Use File Explorer

For a comprehensive search, open File Explore

1. Navigate to the Downloads folder

Check Edge Favourites

If you’re looking for bookmarked pages, navigate to C:\Users\[YourUserName]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default in File Explorer. Here, you’ll find the “Bookmarks” file which contains your saved favorites.

Utilise Windows Search

1. Click on the search bar in the taskbar and type the name of the file you’re looking for. Windows Search will show results from your PC, including files saved through Edge

Access Downloads Menu

1. Click on the three horizontal dots (ellipsis) in the upper-right corner of the browser to open the menu
2. Select Downloads from the list

View Recent Downloads

In the Downloads menu, you’ll see a list of files you’ve recently downloaded. You can open a file directly from this list or click on the folder icon next to a file to open its location on your computer.

Search for Downloads

Use the search bar at the top of the Downloads menu to find specific files by name.

This is useful if you have a long list of downloads and need to locate a particular file quickly.

Change Download Location

If you want to change where your files are saved, go to the ellipsis menu

1. Select Settings
2. Scroll down to Downloads
3. Click Change under the Location section

You can also toggle the option to ask where to save each file before downloading.

Customising Edge

There are many settings that can enhance your use of Edge as your default browser.

Change the Default Search Engine

1. Open Edge
2. Click the three dots (ellipsis) in the top-right corner
3. Go to Settings
4. Select privacy, search, and services
5. Click Address bar and search
6. Select your preferred search engine from the drop-down menu

Customise the Toolbar

1. Go to Settings
2. Click Appearance
3. Scroll down to Customise toolbar
4. Toggle the switches to add or remove buttons like Favorites, History, and Web capture

Enable Vertical Tabs

1. Go to Settings Appearance
2. Scroll to the Customise toolbar section
3. Click the Turn on button next to Show vertical tabs for all current browser windows

Personalise the New Tab Page

1. Open a new tab
2. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner
3. Choose Custom and adjust the settings for background, quick links, and content visibility

Tweak the Sidebar

1. Click the + icon below the sidebar to add apps like Twitter, Facebook, or WhatsApp.
2. Customise the tools and rearrange them as needed

Set Up the Home Button

Go to  Settings

Click Appearance, toggle on the Show home button

Enter the URL of the page you want to set as your home page eg,. staff.port.ac.uk/staffessentials/

Text to come

Importing Favourites

1. Open Microsoft Edge
2. click on the Settings
3. Click more button (three dots) in the top-right corner
4. Select Favourites

In the Favourites window

1. Click on More options (three dots again)
2. Select Import favourites.
3. Choose the browser you want to import from (e.g., Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox)

or

1. select Favourites or bookmarks HTML file if you have an exported file y

Follow the prompts to complete the import process.
 

Managing Favourites

Add a Favourite

1. Navigate to the webpage you want to save.
2. Click the star icon in the address bar
3. Choose a name and location for your favourite
4. Click Done

Organise Favourites

1. Open the Favourites menu 
2. Drag and drop favourites to rearrange them or create folders to keep them organised.
3. Right-click on any favourite to rename, delete, or move it to a different folder

Show Favourites Bar

1. Go to Settings
2. Click more > Settings > Appearance
3. Under the Customise toolbar, use the Show favourites bar drop-down menu to choose when the favourites bar should appear (Always, Never, or Only on new tabs)