Microsoft Edge is adding a contextual search experience that will allow users to get results of their queries directly on the sidebar, without leaving the active webpage. Microsoft has also partnered with Pinterest to enhance the experience on Collections that was introduced as a feature on the Edge browser in December to let users capture, store, and share their favourite Web content. Additionally, the Bing Work results page is now generally available to let Microsoft 365 users receive their work-related content on Bing results pages. The Redmond company is detailing its new advancements at the Build 2020 developer conference today.
To enable the contextual search experience, Microsoft Edge is getting a “search in sidebar” option that will be available through the context menu. All you would need to do is to highlight a word or phrase from the webpage and then right click to select the new search in sidebar option. This will bring results in a panel on the right side of the browser window.
The new experience on Microsoft Edge sounds similar to how you can search for different words and phrases on macOS by using the Look Up option. However, instead of showing the results in a pop-up window, Microsoft’s development is designed to provide the search results in the sidebar. This also seems like an upgrade to the contextual search option provided on Microsoft Edge for Android earlier this year.
Microsoft will bring the contextual search experience to the Edge users through preview builds in the coming weeks. Furthermore, commercial users signed in with an Azure Active Directory (AAD) account will also get results from their company intranet using the search in sidebar option.
In addition to the sidebar search results, Microsoft Edge will add Windows Information Protection to help protect content in a Web environment. The browser will also bring a feature called Automatic Profile Switching that will prompt users to switch to their work profile if they are opening a link that requires their work credentials.
Microsoft Edge users will also get the updated Collections feature with a Pinterest integration. This will help you find content of your interest from Pinterest. Also, Pinterest users will be able to export their existing collections on the Edge browser and populate their broads with saved webpages and images. The Collections feature will also get the ability to share your content on OneNote. This is an addition to the options to send collections to Excel and Word.
The latest Collections-focussed features will be rolled out initially for Insiders in a week’s time. However, you’ll need to wait for some time, if you’re on the public build of the Edge browser.
Bing Work results page
Apart from the new changes for Edge users, Microsoft has made the Bing Work results page available for all Microsoft 365 users. This new page will appear on Bing results pages when enabled by administrators to show work-specific results across Microsoft 365 content, including files, people, and internal websites — alongside Power BI dashboards and reports.
Microsoft Teams updates
As virtual meetings are becoming the new normal for many of us, team collaboration platform Microsoft Teams is getting templates to let organisations and their different teams set up an environment easily. There will be a variety of customisable templates that teams will be able to choose on the basis of their team types such as event management and crisis response. Further, Microsoft will also provide industry-specific templates, including a hospital ward and bank branch. Each of these templates will have predefined channels, apps, and guidance on how to utilise and customise it. Admins will also get the ability to create their custom templates.
Microsoft has said that templates in Teams will be available in the next few months. Additionally, there will be a Skype TX interoperability for Microsoft Teams that will rollout in May and NDI support that will be available in June. Both new additions will let users create online conferences, interviews, press briefings, and productions — all while staying indoors. Developers will also get new offerings to create extensions for Microsoft Teams. All those announcements will take place at Build 2020 that is beginning from today.
In 2020, will WhatsApp get the killer feature that every Indian is waiting for? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
