14 DAY TRIAL // As we told you earlier this week, Microsoft has silently started testing a new downloads experience for Microsoft Edge browser, and today, the company officially published an official announcement in this regard.
Already available in the Dev channel, the new downloads UI replaces the old-school bar that shows up at the bottom of the screen, all for a cleaner experience overall.
“When you start a download, a new menu will now appear in the top-right corner with all your active downloads in one place. This menu is easily dismissible so you can continue browsing uninterrupted. Best of all, you can monitor your overall download progress right from the toolbar thanks to the new progress ring on the downloads button,” Microsoft explains.
New downloading experience in the Dev channel
Indeed, the new downloads experience relies on a flyout that can be launched with a click on a dedicated button in the toolbar.
As we said before, this is something that other browsers have had before, but for Microsoft Edge, it’s clearly a welcome improvement that makes the app feel more modern overall.
Worth noting is that the download button in the toolbar automatically hides when no active downloads are detected, and this is an approach that’s supposed to help keep the UI overall cleaner.
“Simply click on the downloads button at any time to view all your downloads again. You can hover over or right-click on files in the list to pause, restart, or cancel a download. You can also select See more to view and manage your past downloads as well. And as with the recently updated experiences for favorites, history, and as of today Collections, you can even pin the downloads menu open so you can monitor your downloads in detail while you browse,” Microsoft says.
The new UI is available for testing in the Dev build today.