New Microsoft Edge Dev Build 79.0.308.1 released with the return of PDF Annotation!

Today Microsoft released a new update (Build 79.0.308.1) to the Microsoft Edge Developer channel.

The headline feature is the ability to sync open tabs between devices. This can be accessed if you go to the History section of the Menu.

More significantly however for students is the return of the ability to annotate PDFs, a feature Microsoft had dropped from the EdgeHTML version of their browser.

The update also brings a large number of other improvements which can be seen below:

Added features:

• Added initial annotation features to PDFs.
• Added support for using a pen/stylus to move and resize windows.
• Improved the browser sign-in experience and added new profile icons.
• Added an error dialogue for when the browser is in a state where it can’t be signed into (for example, when running as an Administrator).
• Added a link to the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard from within Settings.
• Added text indicating if a window is InPrivate or Guest to the tooltip that appears when hovering over the Taskbar icon.
• Added the ability to edit the names of items in Collections.
• Added more links to documentation from within the F12 Dev Tools.
• Added more icons to certain places in the browser such as context menus.

Improved reliability:

• Fixed a crash when signing into the browser.
• Fixed an issue where trying to print a PDF crashes the tab.
• Fixed an issue where navigating within an IE tab sometimes causes a browser crash.
• Fixed a hang when using IE mode tabs.
• Fixed an issue where clicking on the prompt to restart Edge to apply an update causes a hang on Mac.
• Fixed an issue where Edge would randomly crash.
• Fixed an issue where Application Guard windows fail to open with no indication as to why.
• Fixed an issue where Application Guard windows fail to navigate to websites.
• Fixed a crash when using Application Guard.
• Fixed an issue where checking for Edge updates results in the following error: “We couldn’t create that component (error code 3: 0x80080005 — system level)”.
• Fixed an issue where users can’t click on certain browser UI while the print dialogue is open.
• Fixed an issue where logging into the browser fails because the Sign In button isn’t functional.
• Fixed an issue where sync doesn’t work, and users unexpectedly had to sign into the browser again in order to restore sync.
• Fixed an issue where syncing doesn’t work after a user signs into the browser and tries to customize which types of data to sync.
• Fixed an issue where protected video like on Netflix doesn’t work on ARM devices.

Changed behaviour:

• Temporarily removed the “Block” autoplay media blocking option due to certain websites not being blocked properly. This can be re-enabled with a flag.
• Temporarily removed the UI for sync options that haven’t been implemented yet, so they don’t appear constantly disabled.
• Fixed an issue where Edge icons on the Taskbar, Desktop, Task Manager, etc. are incorrect or missing.
• Fixed an issue where video playback on certain sites like Xfinity would appear blocky or scrambled. Note that there is still an active bug with similar behaviour.
• Fixed an issue where adding a new folder to Favorites from the Favorites management page isn’t possible because the Save button is disabled.
• Fixed an issue where Flash doesn’t work on certain webpages in Application Guard windows.
• Fixed an issue where feedback screenshots appear all black.
• Fixed an issue where importing settings from Chrome causes webpage text to be smaller than normal.
• Fixed an issue where Reading View doesn’t properly support right-to-left languages.
• Fixed an issue where zooming doesn’t work in Reading View on Mac.
• Fixed an issue where some buttons appeared circular when they’re hovered over instead of square/rectangular.
• Fixed an issue where tooltips sometimes don’t draw their entire border properly.
• Fixed an issue where signing into the browser with an account that has no picture doesn’t properly set the browser’s profile picture to the default avatar if a profile picture was previously set for the profile.
• Fixed an issue where copy/paste doesn’t work in Collections.
• Fixed an issue where adding the current webpage to a Collection fails.
• Fixed an issue where the Tab key has unexpected behaviour in certain areas of a Collection.
• Fixed an issue where Collections exported to Word have extra artefacts added to the documents.
• Fixed an issue where reordering items in Collections via the keyboard doesn’t work properly.
• Fixed an issue where downloads blocked by SmartScreen don’t have the button to delete them straight from the Downloads shelf.
• Fixed an issue where changing which content is shown on the new tab page sometimes causes the wrong favicon to be shown on the tab.
• Fixed an issue where “Your organization has turned off sync” messages appear when they shouldn’t be.
• Fixed an issue where the number of InPrivate windows currently open isn’t displayed next to the InPrivate indicator in the toolbar.
• Fixed an issue where the arrow keys sometimes don’t work in PDF documents.
• Fixed an issue where the search engine imported from the existing version of Edge isn’t set as the default search engine after import.
• Fixed an issue where the feedback dialog window control buttons appear to be blurry.
• Fixed an issue where Windows Firewall prompts appear inside Application Guard windows.
• Fixed an issue where the user’s name when signed into the browser has “Profile 1” appended to it.
• Fixed an issue where the first run experience greets users as “Profile 1” instead of their name.
• Fixed an issue where the first run experience sometimes appears on top of web page content instead of on a new tab.
• Fixed an issue where the F12 Dev Tools on Mac sometimes doesn’t use the proper theme.
• Fixed an issue where the F12 Dev Tools feedback smiley face doesn’t render properly in light theme.
• Fixed an issue where two “Initiator” tabs are visible in the F12 Dev Tools Network pane.

To download the updated browser, which can be used side by side with regular Edge, read more at Microsoft here.