About Microsoft Edge's Found downloadable files on this webpage notification
Microsoft Edge users who run the latest version of the web browser on Android may have noticed a new notification that the browser displays when it detects downloadable files on webpages.
The notification, Found downloadable files on this webpage, informs the user when Edge discovered one or multiple files for download on the site.
The feature appears to be implemented in Edge Canary for Android only at this point in time. What makes this problematic is that Microsoft decided to enable it by default.
In other words: Edge checks any website that gets opened by its engine for downloadable files to inform the user about them.
While that may sound convenient to some users and Microsoft, others may be annoyed by it or may be persuaded by it to download files from Internet sites that they would not have downloaded otherwise.
Microsoft offers no explanation and there is no support link that provides context. A quick test on several sites with downloads revealed that support is limited at this point.
Edge did not show its downloadable files notification on traditional download sites such as Majorgeeks or Softonic. The notification did not show up on Microsoft's own website, e.g. on the Windows 11 download page, nor on third-party download pages.
In fact, it only triggered on sites that offered PDF files as download. There is a chance that other file types, such as Microsoft Office documents, may also trigger the "hey, this page has downloads" notification, but this has not been tested.
Microsoft Edge lists the available downloads and users may activate the download buttons next to files to start the downloads. Edge does not provide any context, which can be problematic if the file names do not offer context either.
Multiple files can be downloaded, but Edge displays a confirmation prompt before the actual download of the selected file begins.
Disable Microsoft Edge's downloadable files check
Microsoft Edge users may turn off the feature in the browser's Settings. Here is how that is done:
- Select the three-dots menu at the bottom to open the quick menu.
- Activate the Settings link at the top right.
- Select General to open these settings.
- Scroll down to the Downloads section.
- Toggle "Automatically detect downloadable files" to set it to Off and disable it.
Setting the preference to Off disables the feature. Edge won't scan webpages anymore for downloadable files as a consequence.
Microsoft Edge Canary is a development version of the Microsoft Edge browser. Microsoft may change the feature or even remove it completely from the browser in the future. It may, however, also be released in its current form.
Now You: useful feature, annoying or even a security risk, what is your take on this feature.
Thank you.
Thank you. This has been bugging me for days. All sorted now. Cheers.
Came looking to see if it was malicious – trying to trick me into downloading something nasty, leveraging the credentials of the web site (Reuters) I was on.
Turns out it’s just annoying, badly thought out microsft junk.
Thank you! I was about to go crazy.
I’m “avoiding anything related to Google and Microsoft” due to the full story of the Snowden incident, so I don’t even want to bother to see “revalidation” or official documents, so it’s just my personal opinion, but probably “Microsoft want to collect data on what users are viewing, and what users are trying to download (by scanning)”.
For the purpose of market research for market strategy.
I could see how this could be exploited to the unsuspecting user who would download something
malicious. Seems like Microsoft just can’t stop finding ways to add bloated features to Edge.
This (annoying to me at least) feature has also arrived in Edge Release 114.0.1823.68 here in the US. I worry that unsuspecting users will download malicious files. Turning it on by default is a Really Bad Idea.
I mean .. honestly: what do people expect who use Edge ?
If you are on Mac, you use Safari
If you don’t know anything about IT (eg standard users or web devs) you use Chrome
If you are on Linux or technically somewhat sophisticated you use Firefox
If you are a privacy nerd you use Brave (or tune Firefox or use a Firefox variant)
If you are into very, very bad music you use Opera
If you are a kleptomaniac you use HTTrack
If you are 3l1t3 or crazy or likely both, you use Lynx.
So there is just no place left for Edge (except for using it once to download a proper browser like Lynx).