Hands On: Microsoft Edge Add-ons Site

I remember when Edge, the original, first arrived in Windows 10 just a little more than five years ago. I spent a lot of time monitoring the status of extensions for the browser because there was no compatibility with any other browser extension stores.

Suffice it to say that it was a very slow process and what extensions were available for the fledgling browser were limited because it was a very curated collection.

That changed with the release of the new Microsoft Edge which is based on the Chromium open source project. The latest releases of Edge now have the ability to download most extensions from the Chrome Web Store including themes.

That gives users of the new browser a lot of choice however, Microsoft has continued to curate their own collection of add-ons for new Edge in its own web based portal.

The Microsoft Edge Add-ons portal is well stocked these days although the number of extensions housed there are not nearly as voluminous as the Chrome Web Store. I fact, because it is based on Chromium, new Edge’s add-ons site doesn’t need to be jam packed with every conceivable extension because those are accessible in the Chrome Web Store for new Edge users.

Still, it is good to see the Edge team working on their own assortment of add-ons and with one exception, the Web Activities extension to help populate Timeline on Windows 10, every add-on I use is from the Microsoft add-ons portal.

Right now, by my rough calculations, there are nearly 2,600 add-ons in this library.

They are broken out in some broad topics: