Microsoft wants to turn Edge into a photo viewer

Microsoft Edge is no longer a simple Google-free alternative to Chrome. Three years after its launch, Edge is a feature-packed browser with all sorts of different capabilities. And for better or worse, Microsoft continues shoving new things into Edge. The latest addition discovered by testers is a feature that, for some reason, turns the browser into a photo viewer.

Microsoft Edge Canary version 116.0.1934.0 has a hidden "EdgePhoto" feature you can enable using a command line argument. Like many other changes in Canary, the first EdgePhoto implementation is extremely raw, buggy, and unstable. Still, it is enough to give you a general idea of what Microsoft is cooking in its labs. Here is how you can test it:

1. Update Microsoft Edge Canary to version 116.0.1934.0 or later.
2. Right-click the browser's icon and select Properties.
3. Click the Target field, press Spacebar, and type --enable-features=msEdgePhoto.
4. Save the changes and open Edge with the modified shortcut.
5. Open a picture by dragging it into Microsoft Edge. You will notice that the browser will locate other images from the same folder, similar to the standard Windows Photos app. In addition, there is a Pop-out button for opening images in a dedicated window without the browser's UI.

Microsoft has yet to announce the Edge Photo feature, so it is hard to explain the reasoning behind it, especially considering that Windows, macOS, and Linux have built-in photo viewers. Finally, it is worth reminding that changes in Canary may not see the light of day in more stable releases.

Speaking of images, one of the recent Microsoft Edge Canary updates clarified how the built-in image enhancer works. The browser sends URLs of the pictures you view online to Microsoft's servers for processing and enhancement. You can find more about it in our dedicated article.

Source: HotCakeX | Microsoft Tech Community Forums

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