Microsoft first introduced Timeline to the Task View feature of Windows 10 as part of the April 2018 Update.

This view allows you to see your recent browsing and app activity in a timeline view that supports search and it syncs your activities across Windows 10 devices that use the same Microsoft account.

While this worked well with Microsoft’s own web browser, some of the inbox apps, and a couple of third party apps, if you used an alternate browser then that activity was not being share to Timeline for future reference.

Then last summer, a third party developer using the Timeline API from Microsoft, built extensions for Chrome and Firefox that would show activity on those browsers in Timeline. Initially these extensions were called Windows Timeline Support however, after a copyright concern about the use of Windows, the developer changed their names to Timeline Support. I have been using these extensions since their release and they have been solid in getting browsing activity from Chrome and Firefox to my Timeline view across devices.

Now it seems Microsoft has decided to add an official extension to the Chrome Web Store and provide direct first party support to Timeline from the Chrome web browser.

The extension, called Web Activities, works quickly and provides your Chrome based browsing activity to Timeline within just a minute or so after visiting any websites.

Setup is simple, just log into the extension with your Microsoft Account and accept the permissions necessary to make everything work together. Once you do this, your Chrome browsing activity will sync across all Windows 10 devices that use that same Microsoft Account. There is just one option for the Web Activities extension, choosing whether to open linked activities in the Timeline with Microsoft Edge or your default browser selection.

Be sure to install the Web Activities extension on your other devices so that activity from those computers also get shared to your Timeline view.

Below in the screenshot gallery, you will see the entire sequence of steps to get the Web Activities extension up and running on Chrome. If you have any questions let us know in the comments below.

Microsoft Web Activities Chrome Extension Screenshot Gallery