Since Microsoft launched its Chromium version of Microsoft Edge on Windows 10, the company has been proactively adding new features and improvements. And in a continued effort to make the browser the best experience for the web, the company is now introducing even more features, but this time to improve the online shopping experience with new coupons and discounts codes and price comparison. This is in addition to the new improvements for PDFs, inking capabilities, support for Apple M1 chip, and more.
Coupons and discounts codes
Starting with version 87, Microsoft Edge introduces the ability to get coupons and promotion codes automatically while shopping online, and they can even apply automatically when you’re ready to check out.
The feature is available only in the United States, and it works when you have Bing set as your default search engine. When browsing online retailers, you’ll notice a price tag icon in the address bar letting you know an offer is available. You can click the button to open the list of offers, which you copy and use during the checkout process. However, sometimes, the code will even apply automatically.
In addition, as part of the shopping experience for users in the United States, when using Collections to create a list of products you want to purchase, you’ll now be able to click the “compare price to other retailers” button to see a comparison from other retailers to make sure you’re getting the lowest price possible.
If you do not use Collections to organize your online shopping, the browser can now also check the prices from other retailers and let you know if there’s a lower price on another store. This feature works like coupons codes. When a lower price is found, you’ll see a price tag icon in the address bar. If you click the icon, you’ll see how much you can save, and a direct link to get the offer on the other website.
Quick access to shopping deals
As part of the shopping tools, in the new tab page, you can now pin a Deals button in the quick links to access the Bing shopping page, which has been designed to surface the best deals across online retailers.
If you want to add the button to the new tab page, click the plus (+) button from in the quick links section, and select the Deals option. Also, when you hover over the button, a context menu will open with the top offers and access to weekly ads from the most popular stores.
Other improvements
Alongside the shopping features, Microsoft Edge is getting other productivity improvements. For example, the browser now allows you to annotate and add notes to PDFs. And you can now use digital inking to annotate screenshots using the new web capture feature within the browser.
Microsoft is also touting a new enhanced copy and paste experience for web addresses. Since web links can turn out to be super long and complex, the browser now includes a default behavior that will paste the link as a hyperlink with the title of the page to shorten the link and make it easier to understand. Although this is the new default behavior, you can always change the settings to paste plain text links.
In addition, the Chromium version of Microsoft Edge now supports background notifications that allows you to keep receiving alerts from websites and services, even when the browser is closed. Also, the browser now can show badge notifications in the taskbar for unseen messages for web apps.
Finally, Microsoft has now added support for the new Apple M1 chip to allow macOS users to download and install the web browser on Mac devices.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].