Microsoft releases Edge Dev channel build 97.0.1069.0 with a new Edge bar option and more

Microsoft today released the new v97.0.1069.0 build for Edge Dev channel users. This new build comes with the the ability to pin the Edge bar to either side of the screen, and more. Find the full change log of Edge Dev Channel build below.

Added features and bug fixes: 

• Added the ability to pin the Edge bar to either side of the screen.
• Enabled the Extensions menu by default.  Note that this has also been enabled in version 96, which is currently in Beta.
• Added the ability for the browser to register as a handler for XML files in the OS settings.
• Management policies (note that updates to documentation and administrative templates may not have occurred yet):
  • Added a management policy to control if Edge Discover is Enabled, which controls if Bing is allowed to search in the background for content related to the current page.
  • Enabled support for management policies from Chromium to control Screen Capture in more granular ways:  by setting Screen Capture Allowed By Origins, Window Capture Allowed By Origins, Tab Capture Allowed By Origins, and Same Origin Tab Capture Allowed By Origins.
  • Enabled support for management policies from Chromium to set Serial Allow All Ports For Urls and Serial Allow Usb Devices For Urls.
• Added an experimental API to WebView2 apps to allow any website to be displayed in an iframe (Issue 1243).

Edge Dev Improved Reliability:

• Fixed an issue where the browser won’t open.
• Fixed a crash when interacting with the address bar.
• Fixed an issue where PWAs randomly close.
• Fixed a crash when installing a PWA.
• Fixed a crash when closing a window.
• Fixed a crash when encountering an error while uploading a payment card to a Microsoft Account.
• Fixed an issue where PDFs sometimes crash when viewed in high contrast mode.
• Fixed a crash when closing an IE mode tab.
• Fixed a crash on Xbox.
• Fixed a crash on Xbox when closing an InPrivate window.
• Mobile:
  • Fixed a crash on startup on iOS.
  • Fixed a crash after signing into a work or school account.
  • Fixed a crash when adding a favorite.
  • Fixed a crash when changing certain settings.
• Fixed an issue where WebView2 apps sometimes don’t open and show an error that setup.exe cannot be found.

Changed Behavior:

• Improved PDF scrolling to reduce the amount of blank space while pages load.
• Changed pinned tabs to always be full width when the tab strip is in the vertical orientation.
• Fixed an issue on Mac where certain keyboard shortcuts override system keyboard shortcuts in certain languages.
• Fixed an issue where the prompt to restore tabs is mistakenly shown after launching a PWA.
• Fixed an issue where websites that use certificates on the local machine to log in fail to do so due to the certificate picker not popping up.
• Fixed an issue where the translation popup doesn’t appear on pages that can be translated.
• Fixed an issue where enabling certain accessibility features results in high memory and CPU use.
• Fixed an issue where the number of blocked trackers in the Site Information flyout doesn’t display.
• Fixed an issue where Smart Copy only copies a screenshot instead of the actual contents.
• Fixed an issue where PWAs sometimes can’t be pinned to the Start menu.
• Fixed an issue where parts of the browser are invisible when certain themes are installed.
• Fixed an issue on Mac where websites can’t be pinned to the Finder.
• Fixed an issue where the Edge Bar sometimes opens on its own.
• Mobile:
  • Fixed an issue where swiping back sometimes causes it to get stuck on a loading screen.
  • Fixed an issue where Family Safety sometimes doesn’t work.
  • Fixed an issue where ad blocking doesn’t work.
  • Fixed an issue where adding a website to the ad blocker’s allowlist doesn’t do anything.
  • Fixed an issue where the new tab page layout isn’t consistent with what it’s set to be.
  • Fixed an issue where managed devices sometimes don’t open links from other apps.
  • Fixed an issue where saved passwords can’t be edited in Settings.

Known issues:

• Users of certain ad blocking extensions may experience playback errors on YouTube.  As a workaround, temporarily disabling the extension should allow playback to proceed.  See this help article for more details.
• Some users are still running into an issue where all tabs and extensions immediately crash with a STATUS_INVALID_IMAGE_HASH error.  The most common cause of this error is outdated security or antivirus software from vendors like Symantec, and in those cases, updating that software will fix it.
• Users of the Kaspersky Internet Suite who have the associated extension installed may sometimes see webpages like Gmail fail to load.  This failure is due to the main Kaspersky software being out of date, and is thus fixed by making sure the latest version is installed.
• Some users are seeing “wobbling” behavior when scrolling using trackpad gestures or touchscreens, where scrolling in one dimension also causes the page to subtly scroll back and forth in the other.  Note that this only affects certain websites and seems to be worse on certain devices.  This is most likely related to our ongoing work to bring scrolling back to parity with Edge Legacy’s behavior, so if this behavior is undesirable, you can temporarily turn it off by disabling the edge://flags/#edge-experimental-scrolling flag.

This Edge Dev channel update should download and install directly but in case it doesn’t then you can head to the Edge settings and manually update the browser.