Microsoft claims Edge is the only browser with pin & preview tabs support

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 30, 2016
Updated • Jul 5, 2017
Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge
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15

Microsoft stated recently on the official Microsoft Edge Twitter channel that the company's Edge web browser was the only browser that supported a pin & preview feature for tabs.

Most web browsers support pinning of tabs. This is a useful feature to keep sites that you visit regularly open all the time and at the beginning of the tab bar for quick access.

Previews on the other hand are indeed not supported by all web browsers. But even if you limit the statement to just Windows 10, it is first and foremost untrue.

At least Vivaldi and Opera support tab previews as well. Both browsers support previews for regular tabs and pinned tabs.

Take a look at the following two screenshots to see how this works in the browsers.

vivaldi tab pinning preview

opera tab previews

You can toggle the preview feature on both browsers easily. If you are using Vivaldi, load vivaldi://settings/tabs/ in the browser's address bar to get started. Scroll down on the page that opens until you find the Tab Display group there.

The "show popup thumbnails" preference determines whether Vivaldi will show previews of tabs when you hover over them.

vivaldi show thumbnails

As an Opera user, you have pretty much the same option. Load opera://settings/ in the browser's address bar to get started. Switch to "Browser" in the sidebar menu, and scroll down to the user interface section.

There you find the "show tab previews" preference that you can toggle for the functionality.

opera show tab previews

I'm not sure why Microsoft would make such a claim if it is not true. One explanation for this is if Microsoft tested the functionality only in Firefox and Chrome, the two major browsers on Windows besides Internet Explorer / Edge.

Both Chrome and Firefox don't support pinned tab previews. Firefox users can install extensions like Tab Scope however to add the functionality to the browser. Doing so enables previews for pinned and regular tabs in the Firefox web browser.

I was not able to find an option or extension for Google Chrome which enables the feature in the browser.

This does not make Microsoft's statement right however. Of the four browsers, only one, Google Chrome, does not support pinned tab previews at all. Another one, Firefox, supports it when you install a browser extension.

And the remaining two support it natively.

Closing Words

Even if Edge would be the only browser to support pinned tab previews, it is not really something that I think is worth mentioning. It is such a small feature compared to features that Edge is still lacking.

Now You: What's your take on Microsoft Edge as a browser?

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Microsoft claims Edge is the only browser with pin & preview tabs support
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Microsoft claims Edge is the only browser with pin & preview tabs support
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Microsoft stated recently on the official Microsoft Edge Twitter channel that the company's Edge web browser was the only browser that supported a pin & preview feature for tabs.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Charlie said on December 31, 2016 at 6:39 pm
    Reply

    As I mentioned before…
    On my (current with Windows Update) W10 laptop and desktop PC’s, both Edge and IE11 constantly crash and I’ve given up on both of them. I ran both of them with almost no add-ons. Firefox and Chrome that I run with several add-ons never crash. I spent time and effort trying to fix the MS browser problems and I have finally given up.

  2. DVDRambo said on December 31, 2016 at 4:21 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft also publicly claimed, in 2016, that it will cure cancer within 10 years. No BS. Microsoft is insane in many ways.

  3. chesscanoe said on December 31, 2016 at 2:26 pm
    Reply

    Maybe when Edge supports F11 like most if not all other browsers, they will hold one of their Events to celebrate. They might not have to offer “rewards” to get users to actually use Edge then.

  4. Lothario said on December 31, 2016 at 11:09 am
    Reply

    I’m the only blogger who can post a witty yet insightful response with “punctuation” marks – take that Redmond!

  5. Jeff said on December 30, 2016 at 4:17 pm
    Reply

    Yeah right lying is going to help Microsoft. Good job. Oh wait, they have lied about countless things but every time they are forgiven and you “upgrade” their shit anyway.

  6. Peter said on December 30, 2016 at 3:31 pm
    Reply

    For most Twitter is just another advertising platform. Why bother with them?

  7. Lurking About said on December 30, 2016 at 2:55 pm
    Reply

    If the feature is already supported by Opera and Vivaldi then it should be doable in Chrome/Chromium and any other browser based on Chromium. The problem MS is facing is that all major software genera are populated with mature products that have all the major features users want. Marketing morons are grasping at straws for something to tout in the release so they tout any minor feature that they might have. Users have not been clamoring for these features but they allow the marketing morons to sort of claim “New and Improved”.

  8. Mark Hazard said on December 30, 2016 at 2:29 pm
    Reply

    I cannot use the Edge browser. I don’t use tab previews.

  9. Harushi said on December 30, 2016 at 1:32 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft’s going to make scandals to be famous, I guees. Lol

  10. Anonymous said on December 30, 2016 at 12:32 pm
    Reply

    Since W7 I’m interested in nothing from Microsoft, all these “news” repeated in loop everywhere tires me. Poor techno journalists forced to follow them.

  11. James said on December 30, 2016 at 11:22 am
    Reply

    If you set Firefox’s browser.ctrlTab.previews to true in about:config, you can also get tab previews when you hit CTRL+TAB.

    I’m sure there are add-ons that provide similar functionality too.

  12. Curtis K said on December 30, 2016 at 10:47 am
    Reply

    For the Now You question: I don’t even use the Edge browser.

  13. Gary D said on December 30, 2016 at 10:25 am
    Reply

    This looks like yet more spin and BS from Capossela’s department. Why make claims that can be proved wrong so easily? In the hope that he reads (can he ?) this and other blogs, here’s a statement for him: “Mr Capossela, you are a liar and full of BS”.
    The Marketeers at MS must be really desperate for headlines when they make claims about such relatively unimportant features.

    1. Tom Hawack said on December 30, 2016 at 12:13 pm
      Reply

      Desperate is the word. Pathetic. I guess the company relies on what it believes to be a majority of users, those who blindly believe what Mommy Microsoft states. It’s just false information but we do know, especially with the “media syndrome” that whatever you say, whisper, yell, write or sing… there will always be many to swallow, inconsiderately.

      1. Poopelipoo said on December 30, 2016 at 11:01 pm
        Reply

        Ain’t there truth in advertising laws in the US too ?

        Maybe they don’t apply to free products. (Maybe laws should start to take into account the new money called data)

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