Edge has a handy new search feature that may make you ditch Chrome

December 10, 2020

By Kim Komando

You have a wide range of choices when it comes to browsers. Google Chrome is by far the most popular choice, capturing nearly 64% of the market share worldwide.

There are a lot of perks to using Chrome, but there are some serious downsides, too. The biggest, perhaps, is what a drain it can be on your system’s resources. Tap or click for tricks to speed up Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge.

Microsoft knows just how slow Chrome can run on older computers, especially, and it’s making big moves to lure users over to the new Edge browser. They just added a new feature that makes Edge even more appealing. We’ll show you how this search shortcut works.

The handy new feature for Microsoft Edge

First, a little background. Microsoft Edge is built on Chromium, the source code behind Chrome. Download Edge, give it a spin and you’ll see it performs a lot like Chrome, does.

Microsoft has been hard to work launching new features to help its browser stand out against its Google rival. Enter the Search in Sidebar option.

It allows you to search the web without having to open a new tab or navigate away from the page you’re on. Yep, search results right in the same tab you’re working in.

This is incredibly handy if you need to cross-reference information, shop around for better prices or research something without launching a new tab.

The results and information are displayed in the sidebar on the right side of the browser so you can view the search results and your current page simultaneously. If you click on a link in the search results, it will open a new tab so you can read more.

First, make sure you’re up-to-date

Before you get started, make sure you’re using the most up-to-date version of Edge since this feature is brand new. For Windows computers, the latest version is 87.0.664.57.

Open Microsoft Edge, select Settings and more at the top of the window, then select Settings.
Scroll down and select About Microsoft Edge to see what version you have.

Edge installs updates automatically, so you likely already have the most recent version. You can update manually if you’re having issues with auto-downloads, though.

Open Edge, and click the menu button (…) in the upper right-hand corner.
Scroll to Help & Feedback and click About Microsoft Edge.
Edge will check for any available updates and automatically install.
Note: You will have to restart your browser for the update to load.

Once you’re on the latest version of Edge, you can get started with the Search in Sidebar feature.

How to use the Search in Sidebar feature

Highlight a word, phrase, sentence or paragraph in Edge.
Right-click on words you’ve selected and choose Search in Sidebar from the menu that pops up.

You can browse through the list of results in the right-hand sidebar, which will remain visible until you close it by hitting the X button on the upper right of the browser window.

You can also activate the Search in Sidebar feature by highlighting text on the page and then using the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[E].

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