Microsoft Edge Unveils New Artificial Intelligence Feature to Assist Users in Sorting Open Tabs into Collections

In modern web browsers, tab collections are a common feature, eliminating the necessity for manual grouping by users. For example, in Microsoft Edge, users were previously required to utilize the right-click function on a tab and then choose the “add tab to new group” option from the contextual menu. These tab groups could be personalized with unique titles and colors for easier identification purposes.

Users can effortlessly add other tabs to the newly created tab collection by simply dragging and dropping them. This system is both straightforward and highly effective, enabling users to expand or collapse tab groups within the browser.

Users of Vivaldi can benefit from a wide range of tab-related functions, including two-layer tab stacks that significantly enhance tab management by displaying all tabs within a stack (group) on a secondary tab row.

Organizing Similar Tabs in Edge for Improved Confidentiality

Organizing Similar Tabs is a new AI tool in Edge Stable that Microsoft tested in earlier versions of the browser.

The main concept is to automate the creation of tab collections for users, eliminating the manual effort needed to form and manage tab groups. To utilize this feature, users can go to the tab actions menu in Microsoft Edge’s toolbar and select Group Similar Tabs (Preview).

Upon choosing the option, Edge transmits data about all currently open websites to a Microsoft server. The AI processing occurs on the server, and shortly after, suggestions are sent back to the user.

Upon clicking the group tabs button, the tab collections are created, providing users with options to personalize each collection. Users also have the choice to dismiss a suggested collection to skip creating a specific group.

The automatic grouping feature is particularly useful when the browser has numerous open tabs. It’s important to note that this function relies on an active Internet connection for communication with Microsoft’s servers. In case of an internet interruption, Group Similar Tabs will show an error message indicating the inability to create tab groups, emphasizing that processing is done on Microsoft’s servers rather than locally.

This process is reminiscent of Google Chrome’s Tab Organizer, which communicates with Google servers to suggest tab collections and sends all URLs and webpage titles to Google from the browser window.

Microsoft introduced this feature on the Windows Experience Blog last year, emphasizing, “Efficiency and organization go hand in hand. Yesterday, we introduced Tab Auto-grouping in Edge, using AI to categorize your tabs based on specific themes or categories. Simply go to the tab icon on the top left, select group similar tabs, and Copilot will organize your tabs, making your browser window and mind less cluttered.” However, the announcement lacked in-depth details on data processing or privacy implications, with the Edge feature also lacking clarity on data storage, processing, and utilization.

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