Feature is already being tested as part of the Canary build

Feb 17, 2021 17:51 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is currently working around the clock on improving Microsoft Edge, and the latest Canary build comes with one improvement for select users (before it’s obviously enabled for everybody else).

More specifically, reddit user Leopeva64-2 has noticed that Microsoft Edge now allows users to open Office files right in the browser without the need for downloading them.

In other words, Edge would soon double as an Office document viewer, allowing you to quickly open presentations, spreadsheets, and documents within Edge “instead of downloading,” as Microsoft itself explains in a new toggle in the settings screen.

The feature is indeed being added to the Settings UI of Microsoft Edge, so you can enable and disable this behavior as you wish.

Needless to say, since it’s still in the testing stage, only a few Canary users are getting it right now, and Microsoft has remained completely tight-lipped as to when it plans to make the feature available for everybody.

Edge now a cross-platform browser

The biggest benefit of this feature is support for opening Office documents even for those who don’t have the productivity apps installed on their device. So theoretically, even if you don’t have Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on your computer, you’ll still be able to open documents on the device as long as you use Microsoft Edge as the browser.

Of course, the application wouldn’t let you make any changes to the files you are opening, as the whole purpose of the feature is to serve as an Office file viewer.

Microsoft Edge is now available on more than just Windows 10, as the migration to the Chromium engine allowed the Redmond-based software giant to bring the app to Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, macOS, and even Linux (a preview version is already available for download).