What to know about Edge Workspaces public preview

After almost two years of development, Microsoft is finally releasing the public preview of its Edge Workspaces, a feature that allows browsing organization and collaboration among multiple users.

Microsoft was first reported to start its works on Workspaces in 2021, wherein the main features seemed to be solely focused on browser organizations. Now, Microsoft details everything about Edge Workspaces, including its capability to share web pages and documents with other users in real-time.

As expected and seen in the previous tests leaked, Edge Workspaces lets the separation of browsing tasks into dedicated windows while allowing users to curate the space name, set of tabs, and favorites. The feature, nonetheless, is not just for browsing organization. As the software company noted, it can also create a place where a group of people can collaborate instantly.

“Within Edge Workspaces, updates to web tabs, favorites, and documents happen in real time,” details Microsoft in its blog post. “So even if you and your group are not in the Workspace at the same time, you can pick up right where you left off and all recent updates… Everyone in the group can continue to add tabs, and make updates at their own pace – all while still keeping the group on the same page, at a time that’s convenient for them.”

On the other hand, the Redmond giant assured that despite the shared browsing, security and privacy will not be compromised.

“It is important to note that this feature is not browser screensharing, nor does it share browser data among people who are sharing an Edge Workspace,” the company adds. “Each user will only see content that they have access to… Edge Workspaces will not share browser or confidential account data like logins, cookies, and passwords with anyone else who has access.”

The feature is now available in public preview for those running Microsoft Edge version 111.0.1661.51 (or higher) on PC and Mac, though Microsoft stressed the rollout would be limited. And given the feature is on Edge, users would have to use a Microsoft account to enjoy all the capabilities of Workspaces fully. Also, those lucky enough to join the public preview will each get five invites to send to their friends to ask them to join the preview and test the collaboration feature.