There are more extensions for Microsoft Edge browser in Windows 10 than ever and the collection is growing. There is still a long way to go, but the range and quality is increasing.
When Windows 10 launched and people looked at the new Edge browser, it didn’t have much to offer compared to Chrome, or even Firefox. For a start, it did not support extensions. This alone was reason enough for many Chrome and Firefox users to ignore Edge.
It isn’t quite time to give up Chrome just yet, but Microsoft is continuing to improve the browser it bundles with Windows and it is now getting increasing support from extension developers. There are actually some quite good ones.
It took a whole year after Edge launched for Microsoft to add support for extensions and the feature was included in the Anniversary Update. The problem was, there was such a tiny collection of extensions it wasn’t worth bothering with.
It seems only a few months ago that there still weren’t any Edge extensions worth mentioning and the number never seemed to grow in the early days. It was stuck at just over 10 or so for a long time.
Take another look at extensions for Edge and you may be surprised to see quite a reasonable collection. There are now nearly 100, which is up from the more than 70 I counted a few months ago.
There are many hundreds and possibly thousands of Chrome extensions and they are more varied than Edge, but it is nice to see Edge progressing.
Find Edge extensions
To browse the extensions for Edge, open the browser in Windows 10.
Click the three dots in the top right corner to show the menu.
Click Extensions.
A small number of featured extensions are listed and they can be installed by clicking Get. Unsurprisingly Microsoft extensions feature high on the list but scroll down past these and there are more, like Grammarly, Save to Pocket, Reddit Enhancement Suite, and a few more.
Scroll down to the bottom of this list and click Explore more extensions.
The Windows Store app opens and lists all the extensions as tiles
Click an extension to view the details page
Click the Get button to install it
Don’t forget to activate the extensions and bear in mind the permissions (they aren’t any different to extensions in other browsers).
As with any collection of browser extensions, there are good ones and bad ones. Here is just a very small number I looked at recently. There are dozens more.
Make YouTube better
Turn off The Lights for Microsoft Edge is an Edge version of an extension that has been in other browsers for quite a long time. It is designed to make watching videos on video sharing websites like YouTube, Vimeo and others easier on the eye.
When a video starts playing in the browser, clicking the extension on the menu dims everything in the browser window except the video. It is a bit like when the lights dim at the cinema and the movie begins playing. It reduces distractions and lets you focus on the video.
It is useful to a degree - I click the full-screen button when watching videos anyway, but if you do watch the standard size video window on the page, it is worth trying.
Enhancer for YouTube for Microsoft Edge does a similar trick and it darkens the rest of the page when a video plays. It can also pin the video to the top when the page is scrolled, so you can scroll down and read the comments while continuing to watch the video. It can automatically select your preferred resolution and enter cinema mode. I’m not sure every feature works, but there are a lot of settings to experiment with.
Store web pages
Microsoft OneNote was one of the first extensions for Edge and it enables you to save web pages, articles, and URLs to OneNote notebooks. OneNote is an excellent app that has been simplified over the years and it is easier to use. A nice feature is that your notes are synced and are available everywhere - Windows, the web, and mobile.
It is not the only note-taking app available and Evernote is a popular choice for many people. The features are similar to OneNote and you can save the article, a simplified article, the full page or a bookmark from within Edge.
After saving the web clipping to your Evernote account, sharing options let you share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other places. It is a useful extension for people researching topics using the internet. Other browsers have had it for years, but it is nice to see it in Edge.
Save to Pocket is not quite the same but in some ways it is similar. It lets you save web pages for reading later, for research, or simply as an alternative to Edge’s bookmarks. A free Pocket account lets you save any number of web page and tag them with keywords to organise them.
Password managers
LastPass password manager has been an Edge extension for a long time and it is excellent. It syncs passwords across PCs, mac, and mobile, so your passwords are available everywhere. It also stores notes and other bits of information you want to keep private and secure.
Now there are alternatives and RoboForm for Edge enables you to access the passwords stored in your RoboForm Everywhere account. There is a free version of RoboForm, but a subscription account is needed to access your passwords across multiple devices. For some features you need RoboForm for Windows installed but some features work with just the Edge extension.
If you use Norton Identity Safe vault to store your passwords, the extension for Edge makes accessing your passwords easier. Keeper for Microsoft Edge enables you to access encrypted Keeper databases in which your passwords, notes and other information is stored. A subscription is needed to access your passwords anywhere.
It is good to have options, but the free version of LastPass is all most people need.
Improve your writing
The Grammarly website can be used to analyse your writing and suggest edits to fix grammar problems, typing slips and spelling mistakes. However, the Grammarly browser extension adds those capabilities to text you enter into web pages, like blogs, forms, web page comments and so on..
Now there is a Grammarly extension for Edge and it works the same as in other browsers. When you click in a box on a web page to enter some text, Grammarly checks what you type. It points out mistakes and suggests corrections and improvements. A free account at the Grammarly website is all you need to use the basic grammar checking features.
I have barely scratched the surface of the extensions available for Edge and there are dozens more. It is still early days and some extensions I use in Chrome are still not available for Edge. However, it is good to see the range of extensions for the Windows 10 browser growing, even if it is a very slow growth.
Save money
Have you heard of Honey? It saves you money by applying coupon codes at the checkout when you buy things online. The Chrome extension has 8.3 million users and it scores 4.8/5. Well now this extension is available for Edge too!
You need to create an account at the joinhoney.com website, but you can sign up in the extension’s welcome screen using a Facebook login. One click and you’re in and ready to start saving money.
It supports thousands of online stores and when you are visiting a store that has coupons, a badge on the icon in the toolbar shows the number. Click the icon and a drop-down list of coupon codes is displayed. It tells you the code, whether it is new or when it was last used.
Clicking a code copies it and at it can be used at the checkout. Obviously it cannot support every product in every online store and some stores and products don’t even allow coupon codes. However, it does support a lot of products and stores and you are bound to save money sooner or later.
More extensions
This is a small selection of extensions that caught my eye and there are many more - the number could be more than 100 by the time you read this, so go and check them out.
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