Microsoft Edge Dev channel gets updated with three new features and several bug fixes

Microsoft today announced the release of v81.0.403.1 build for Edge Dev channel. The update comes with some new features, several bug fixes and improvements. For developers, this build comes with the new z-Index view that helps them isolate the different stacking contexts of a web page.

In the z-index tab you can further simplify the view by only showing elements with a stacking context or hiding elements with the same paint order as their parent.

Find the full change log below.

Added features:

• Enabled the 3D viewer tool in the F12 Developer Tools.
• Enabled localization of the F12 Dev tools so they will match the language the rest of the browser is using.
• Enabled the link on the … menu to the Extensions management page in Application Guard windows now that extensions have been enabled.

Improved reliability: 

• Fixed an issue where navigating to certain websites causes a browser crash.
• Fixed an issue where websites that use Windows’ credential prompt in order to log in sometimes cause a browser crash.
• Fixed an issue where using Collections sometimes causes a browser crash when closing a window.
• Fixed an issue where certain DRM-protected video doesn’t play on Windows Insider builds.
• Fixed an issue where certain DRM-protected video doesn’t play on certain devices.

Changed behavior: 

• Temporarily hid the Global Media Controls button that was inherited from Chromium.
• Improved the white flashes that sometimes occur in Dark Theme when loading internal webpages like Favorites, History, etc.
• Fixed an issue where Spellcheck is sometimes not enabled by default.
• Fixed an issue where editing favorites on the Favorites management page sometimes causes folders to unexpectedly close or open.
• Improved Browser Task Manager’s persistence of column widths.
• Fixed an issue where there were two context menu entries to move a tab to a new window.
• Fixed an issue where attempting to translate a page into the same language it’s already in causes the Translate popup not to show the current language correctly.
• Fixed an issue where the Done or Next button sometimes doesn’t appear during the First Run Experience.
• Fixed an issue where parts of Collections are inappropriately hidden when the browser’s zoom level is set to greater than 100%.
• Fixed an issue where pressing Shift+Tab when editing text in a Collection unexpectedly exits text editing mode.
• Fixed an issue where pasting text into a Collection sometimes shows black on dark text when using Dark Theme.
• Fixed text formatting issues when pasting text into a Collection.
• Fixed an issue where the option to Read Aloud is shown in places where it can’t be used.
• Fixed an issue where the list of voices available in Read Aloud sometimes isn’t correct.
• Fixed an issue where Read Aloud sometimes doesn’t read long phrases properly when using certain voices.
• Fixed an issue on Mac where websites installed as apps still have a too-tall title bar.

Known issues: 

• The dialog to install a website as an app sometimes doesn’t appear.
• Users of certain security software packages will see all tabs fail to load with the error STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION. The only way to prevent this behavior is to uninstall that software.
• After an initial fix for it recently, some users are still experiencing Edge windows becoming all black. UI popups like menus are not affected and opening the Browser Task Manager (keyboard shortcut is shift + esc) and killing the GPU process fixes it.  Note that some of these fixes don’t yet exist in the Stable channel, and the issue only appears to affect users with certain hardware.
• Some users are still not seeing Collections being enabled by default on Canary and Dev. For users who want to try Collections, enabling the flag at edge://flags/#edge-collections should still work to turn on the feature.
• There are some issues where users with multiple audio output devices sometimes don’t get any sound from Edge. In one case, Edge becomes muted in the Windows Volume Mixer and unmuting it fixes it.  In another, restarting the browser fixes it.
• At certain zoom levels, there is a noticeable line between the browser UI and the web contents.

The 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.