Microsoft Edge is one of the most popular web browsers on the market, with a market share of 11.5% according to StatCounter. The browser offers a number of interesting and useful features such as Microsoft 365 integration, IE mode, collections, portrait mode, and more. However, there is one feature that many users have been asking for for a long time: the ability to customize the website thumbnails in the bookmarks center.
The Favorites hub is where all the websites you’ve bookmarked in Edge are stored. You can access it by clicking the star icon in the toolbar or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+O. The Favorites Center allows you to organize your favorite websites into folders, sort them alphabetically, rename them, and delete them. However, what you cannot do is change the appearance of the thumbnails that represent each website.
Increased customization for Microsoft Edge favorites
Thumbnails are small images that show a preview of the website. They can be useful for quickly recognizing a website without having to read its name. However, the thumbnails generated by Microsoft Edge may not be the most suitable for some users. For example, they may display an irrelevant part of the website, have a color that doesn’t match the browser’s theme, or be too small to see well.
I originally uploaded GIFs in the tweet above, but for some reason Twitter turned them into static images (I think it was because I added descriptions lol), here are the GIFs: pic.twitter.com/iYPyF8ObOc
– Leopeva64 (@Leopeva64) May 15, 2023
According to Neowin, from the captures of leopeva64, Microsoft is working on offering thumbnail options for Edge’s bookmarks hub. This means that users will be able to choose between different types of thumbnails for each favorite websitesuch as large icons, small icons, or full screenshots. In addition, users will be able to customize the size and shape of the thumbnails, as well as their position.
This feature is not yet available to the public, but it has been found in Edge Canary. It is expected to hit the Dev and Beta channels in the coming weeks or months and eventually to the stable version of the browser. This feature could improve the browsing experience for many users who use the favorites center frequently and want more control over how it looks.