After a delay from usual due to the New Year holidays, Microsoft announced the new stable version 97 of the Edge browser for Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.
This new 97.0.1072.55 version comes with a number of security and productivity features, most notably the Citations feature, which has finally reached the stable channel after it had been in Microsoft Edge insider channels since last November.
The new Citations feature in Microsoft Edge gives students a better way to manage and create Citations as they research online. This feature can be turned on either by clicking on the three dots inside the Collections button in the browser's top bar or by opening the 3-dot side menu (through the shortcut Alt + F) and going to More tools → Cite this. You can also add the Citations' menu to the browser's top bar from the Settings → Appearance → Customize toolbar → Citations button.
When turned on, generates full and in-text citations in multiple citations styles including MLA, Chicago, APA 7, and more, that students can use later, so they can stay focused on their research. When they are done, they can easily compile these citations into a final deliverable.
The second feature that Edge 97 offers to stable channel users is a new option called "Auto HTTPS", which will enable them to upgrade navigations from HTTP to HTTPS on domains likely to support this more secure protocol. This support can also be configured to attempt delivery over HTTPS for all domains.
Automatic HTTPS is a controlled feature, which means that it will be rolled out gradually and will not be available to all users at the same time, but if you want to try this feature you can do so by activating the feature flag on the edge://flags page.
Microsoft Edge chromium 97 now also provides the option to use your existing profile to sign in to websites when you sign in to multiple work or school accounts on a device.
When multiple accounts are signed in to work or school on a device, users are asked each time to choose an account from the account picker to continue their visits to certain websites.
In this release, users will be prompted to allow Microsoft Edge to sign in to websites automatically with the work or school account they're signed in to in the current profile. This feature can be turned on and off in Settings → Profile Preferences.
Version 97.0.1072.55 of the Edge browser also includes the following security features and changes:
- Microsoft Endpoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy enforcement is now supported and available natively on macOS.
- Use of the legacy WebSQL feature will be blocked from 3rd-party frames, following this change that happened in the Chromium project that Microsoft Edge is based on.
- Control Flow Guard (CFG) support has been added (in Windows 8 and later versions) to help the browser combat memory corruption vulnerabilities and by protecting indirect calls.
