For those unaware, reset sync server data is an optional feature in Microsoft Edge for Windows 11 and other PCs that allows you to purge the synced data stored on Microsoft’s servers. The sync data is linked to a Microsoft account, and it apparently includes stuff like your browsing data, favorites, passwords, tabs, and more.

Edge syncs data in real time, but sometimes, it may not be able to sync everything across all devices. In some cases, older data could be synced, and you’ll lose access to the new content browsed on one of your devices. Or you might have duplicate items across all devices.

When you use the “reset sync server data” button in Edge for Windows, it purges all data from the server and reuploads data from the current device.

Finally, Microsoft syncs it across all devices.

Neat feature, right? However, the reset sync server data feature wasn’t available in Microsoft Edge for Android/iOS until now.

As shown in the above screenshot, Windows Latest can confirm that Microsoft Edge Android has Windows 11’s feature that gives you control over what has been synced to Microsoft servers with an option to purge everything and reupload it from Android.

This option has been on the desktop for close to a year now, and it’s nice to see it arrive on Android.

Bottom address bar on Android

Microsoft previously told Windows Latest that it’s considering bringing the bottom address bar or Omnibox to Edge on Android.

Google has also been experimenting with an optional bottom address bar for Chrome, so we weren’t surprised when we heard Microsoft wanted to pull this off with Edge, too.

A new experiential flag is already live in Edge Canary that lets you access the setting with a toggle to move the Omnibox to the bottom of the screen. In our tests, the toggle or the setting doesn’t show up yet, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s similar to Google’s implementation.

Here’s how Google has implemented the bottom address bar in Chrome through optional toggle:

In addition to these two new features in Edge, Microsoft is trying to bring a full-fledged Copilot experience to Edge Android.

The current Copilot implementation doesn’t do justice to the previous version’s PDF reading and summarizing capabilities. It also doesn’t work well with YouTube videos, but we can hope it will get better over time.

The post Microsoft Edge on Android will let you reset sync server data, tests bottom bar appeared first on Windows Latest

Microsoft Edge typically undergoes a lot of changes, including these minor tweaks. As shown in the below screenshot shared by a Windows Latest reader in our forums, Edge 131.0.2903.112 has a new take on these folder icons, which represent the favourites or your bookmarks in the toolbar.

“And just like that Microsoft Edge updated itself to version 131.0.2903.112 and changed the folder icons for favorite. Not sure if i like it or not,” one of our readers noted in a forum post. I opened Microsoft Edge and I also noticed that the folder icons have been updated, and they’re now transparent.

“What a stupid change and it’s silly that there’s no option in settings to customize these,” one of the users noted.

“Went to see if my laptop changed and when I first opened Edge the folders were yellow at first BUT,…when I closed it and opened it again the folders had changed to transparent just like my PC,” another user added in a post on Reddit.

Fair enough, right? I mean, people can like and dislike changes. While some people like the monoline transparent folders in the Edge toolbar, some aren’t happy with how Microsoft changed the icons and refused to provide any customization options to bring back the yellow folders.

Thankfully, if you aren’t a fan of the transparent folder icons, you can go back to yellow folder icons for your favourite by following these steps:

1. Locate the Microsoft Edge (msedge.exe) from the search panel > locate location.
   
2. Right-click msedge.exe shortcut.
3. Open Properties.
4. Go to Shortcut tab.
5. Modify the target to include disable-features=msFavoritesMonolineFolder after the “quotation”. Simply copy the following code:

6. --disable-features=msFavoritesMonolineFolder

7. Click Apply and OK to save the changes.
   
8. Reopen Microsoft Edge, and the old yellow-colored folders should be back now.

Remember this is a temporary workaround, and Microsoft may remove it in a future release of Edge.

If you want to keep using these yellow folders, you need to hope that Microsoft adds an option to customize how favourites look in Edge. But that doesn’t make sense. I mean, it’s not practically possible to make everything customizable in Edge without bloating the already bloated settings.

Speaking of Microsoft Edge, we recently reported that Windows 11’s default browser fearmongering isn’t going anywhere. We spotted more references implying that Edge has plans to show new pop-ups that encourage people to set it as the default. If you set it up as default, there are a few new advantages to try.

For example, Edge is now capable of using on-device AI to detect scams and protect your Windows 11 installation. Similarly, Edge’s built-in PDF reader will use OCR to help you extract texts from scanned documents.

The post Microsoft Edge drops yellow for folders (favourites), gets monoline transparent look appeared first on Windows Latest

Firstly, the Copilot page will automatically launch when clicking the Copilot keyboard key in the Microsoft 365 app. The next big change is retiring the top header to give a more clean look to the UI. It is a big change because the right part of the bar contains profile and account-related options.

All these options will now migrate to the bottom of the left-side menu. So, you’ll need to expand the Settings and more section to access profile, feedback, and app settings.

Microsoft is also retiring the organization name header, which appeared in the top header. A valid reason for removing this is that Copilot is a tool to get the job done but not a crucial app like Word or Excel, which the organization uses most of the time.

In addition, it’ll move the AI features like Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Copilot Pages to the left sidebar in hopes of drawing more eyeballs than usual. To make space for Copilot, it’s removing the My Day and Help me Create buttons, which have no need since Copilot is a polished version for queries, summarization, and generation tasks.

You’ll also not see the Back button because Microsoft believes the tabbed interface is enough to switch between multiple apps or app pages.

Also, what about the search bar? It’s now set to appear on the homepage so you can look for content across different sections, but there are no other changes to the search bar. Only the position is changing.

All these app changes apply to both the web and desktop versions of the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. You can expect these changes to be reflected in the service from the third week of January 2025.

But are these changes helpful for the end user?

Copilot is omnipresent

Rebranding an already confusing name like Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 Copilot makes little sense. With all the hype this AI assistant has received for the last year or so, rarely users or organizations don’t know about it.

Even worse is renaming the simple Copilot service to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat for enterprise users. That’s a too-long name and based on the little help that it offers, it’ll find very less adoption in the enterprise scenario. The URLs have also changed to reflect the name change, so users don’t get confused.

We hope that Microsoft sticks to the Copilot name until the service is discontinued (less likely as AI is omnipresent now).

The post Windows 11’s Microsoft 365 app is taking a new AI-first approach with Copilot appeared first on Windows Latest

We can’t have good things, can we? Microsoft said that it’s making Copilot and Bing Image Creator (powered by DALL-E 3) better by bringing over the new models from its partner OpenAI, but is that really the case?

While Copilot and Bing Image Creator may gotten better on paper, Windows Latest has heard from users that quality is now really bad, and content moderation has made it even worse. We previously pointed out a similar behaviour when using the Copilot AI, which now acts more like a teenager than a helpful assistant.

It looks like Bing Image Creator is also a mess now.

Bing Image Creator is now censored. Quality drops as AI refuses to create what people want

For those unaware, Bing Image Creator, which can be accessed from https://www.bing.com/images/create is really nice, and one of the best ways to generate images using AI.

It’s a lot better than Gemini, and some previously found it better than even OpenAI’s built-in integration. Unlike others, Bing Image Creator actually listened to you.

However, this is no longer the case. Bing Image Creator censorship keeps getting worse, and it’s also pissing off creators. Some are considering switching to alternatives. This is because Bing Image Creator is “borderline useless” for people who truly understand how to use AI to create images.

After recent updates, Bing Image Creator’s generated images could look sharper and lack detail. Images also look lifeless. In the example below, you can probably figure out for yourself what was generated before and after the update.

Bing’s image in the example below has a face that looks lifeless and “taxidermized like uncanny mannequins”.

“They just couldn’t help themselves to tinker with it to give the illusion of an upgrade,” one user argued.

Reddit user noted, “The difference is extremely noticeable; I’ve compared thousands of portraits, and now they look lifeless.” Another user stated, “All images have worse lighting, less detail, and are generally inferior in every way.”

As you can see in the above gallery comparing before and after Bing’s DALLE-3 model updates, the older image looks polished and realistic, while the newer one appears weird and cartoonish.

“It is borderline unusable now,” one user said.

Censorship is also worse now. Like if you try to create anything that might make Bing assume you’re creating something for violence, it will immediately replace the prompt with kindness, belonging and wholesome keywords.

Worse, if you’re using Bing Image Creator to create anime images, and you use words like “Short black hair”, it will also lead to content warnings.

Then, we have another issue where Bing Image Creator or Copilot create dog images even when the prompt has nothing to do with animals.

“It feels like the AI assumes you’re unsafe and punishes you with bland results,” one user said in the same Reddit discussion.

“It makes very cartoony looking kindergarten images. I’d rather it just block the images than mock me like that, one user argued.

“It’s like they’re actively trying to make their own AI worse,” one user wrote.

“They’re taking the fun out of it,” said one user. “We can’t have good things.”

Many want Microsoft to reconsider its approach, while some believe they need to directly reach out to OpenAI.

The post Microsoft Copilot censorship made Bing Image Creator low-quality, restricted, dumb appeared first on Windows Latest

The company recently published this information in the Microsoft 365 message center about rebranding Microsoft 365 to Microsoft 365 Copilot. Then, it wants to change the Microsoft Copilot name for Entra account users to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. All in all, it wants to change the name of the app and its AI chat assistant service for Enterprise customers.

It’s a “necessary” decision, as per Microsoft, which thinks the current naming structure is confusing. The only solution seems to be adding a “Copilot” name to every Enterprise product, which must seem genius in its mind.

It’s also changing the Microsoft 365 Copilot URL to M365Copilot.com and redirect office.com and microsoft365.com requests to m365.cloud.microsoft. There’s also a new icon in the works for the app.

It’ll use the same Copilot icon but with the “M365” label. All these changes will come into effect by mid-January 2025, a month from now.

In short:

Microsoft 365 will become Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Microsoft Copilot (for users with Entra Account) will become Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.

As we reported recently, Copilot key will not open the Copilot app, but instead it will redirect to Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

Remember that Microsoft 365 Copilot is the one stop app to manage Microsoft 365, including Copilot, but it’s not strictly limited to Copilot as the name might suggest. Copilot app does not work on enterprise PCs, which is why Copilot app will open Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

Confusing, right? Good luck to enterprises explaining this to their clients.

Is this change necessary?

Microsoft has never settled for a name for long. Earlier, Copilot was Bing Chat, and then it became Copilot. Now, it wants to change the Microsoft 365 app to a more Copilot-focused branding.

This change comes after their recent suggestion to remap the Copilot key on Enterprise PCs to open the Microsoft 365 app. The app will, by default open the Copilot assistant inside a new tab. We think this name change unnecessarily complicates everything for the Entra account users.

When they can already access Copilot inside the 365 app, why change its name? The Microsoft 365 app offers many more Microsoft products than Copilot, which we think is the least priority of an Enterprise user.

If they wanted, they could allow the users to access the Enterprise version of Copilot via a browser and leave the Microsoft 365 app as a secondary option. Renaming Copilot to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat only makes it difficult to read and remember.

Only time will tell whether this ends up in a similar laughing stock situation as the Copilot key decision.

The post Microsoft 365 app rebranding to Microsoft 365 Copilot, causing more confusion on Windows appeared first on Windows Latest

This makes it very difficult to scan texts from scanned documents, and some of us rely on internal tools to copy text when nothing works. We also use those pesky “extract text from scanned PDF” web tools, but it turns out doing this would be a thing of the past. Windows Latest has spotted a new experimental feature in Edge that adds OCR to PDF reader.

For those unaware, OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition. In our tests, Windows Latest spotted a flag in Microsoft Edge called “msPdfWindowsOcrCoverage”, and we think it could be about using a built-in OCR engine to extract texts from images.

We are talking about Windows 11’s built-in OCR, which was introduced with Windows 10 as part of the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). This allows apps in Windows 10 and later to use the built-in OCR engine to extract text and text layout information.

While Microsoft hasn’t confirmed to us that it’s working on integrating Windows OCR into Microsoft Edge’s PDF reader, one of the sources told us that Windows 11’s OCR engine is really smart at detecting texts in various types of images.

This includes “scanned documents (.pdf)” and your normal photos.

Also, Windows 11’s OCR runs natively. It does not send your data to Microsoft. No internet is required to use the feature, and OCR supports up to 25 languages.

Popular apps like Word, OneNote, Bing, OneDrive, and others have used the Windows OCR API for years now, and it’s finally coming to Microsoft Edge.

The goal could be to make these PDFs more useful by allowing you to copy text or improve accessibility. Since it’s a flag, it’s experimental and may not work for everyone yet. To try it, search for the flag in Edge settings under edge://flags, enable it, and restart the browser.

This might make Edge better at handling non-searchable PDFs.

We don’t know when the PDF OCR support will be available on Microsoft Edge, but it’s not the only good thing that is coming to Edge.

Windows Latest previously reported that Microsoft is also working on making the Edge browser run faster. Based on our findings, it looks like Edge’s downloads menu, extensions menu, history tab, three-dot menu, and even the “Ask Copilot” or right-click menu will be getting significantly faster.

The post Microsoft Edge to use Windows 11’s OCR to extract text from PDF (scanned or images) appeared first on Windows Latest

System admins have started receiving mail regarding this transition with ample Reddit threads discussing this slow shift. For Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Premium users, the transition begins in January 2025, barely a month away from now.

Microsoft is pretty optimistic about the change and cites a few reasons why the new Outlook is better than its predecessors. Its highlights include theming options, “time-saving features” like pinning and snoozing emails, and integration of Copilot.

The AI-assistant is already included with several other Microsoft 365 products, so it isn’t a surprise that it’s there in the new Outlook.

System admins can choose to block this via system policies. If you don’t want to switch to the new Outlook in the experimental phase, visit the Outlook Options > General section and turn off the related toggle. But are users happy with the decision?

New Outlook doesn’t appeal to many

Outlook users aren’t happy about the decision, which is the case with pretty much every new web-based app rollout. Some hate the idea of migrating to the new app, while others don’t like that it drops some legacy features.

It’s common to find such community posts describing their situation and how they like the old Outlook compared to the new one. Many prefer to hide the migration setting and the toggle to switch to the new Outlook. Frequent app crashes and delayed responses/ notifications add salt to the wounds.

Microsoft has tried to bring several legacy features to the new app, but it will take more convincing than this “forced” migration. If the app ticked all the boxes, there wouldn’t be so much commotion regarding its UI, performance, and missing settings.

Do you like the new Outlook or prefer the current one? Elaborate in the comments.

The post Microsoft 365 Enterprise will migrate Outlook Classic to new Outlook on Windows 11 appeared first on Windows Latest

Microsoft found out that using JavaScript for loading Edge browser elements slowed it down to some extent. It increased the load times by a noticeable margin and made the UI sluggish. Another thing holding back Edge’s performance was code sharing across multiple features.

The Redmond giant built WebUI 2.0 with these factors in mind so that the elements load faster. Microsoft announced that it’s migrating Edge elements to WebUI 2.0 earlier this, and it has already moved some of the settings, but some features are still on the old code, which could be. How fast has Edge become?

Blazing fast load times

The first element to sport the new markup first code approach was Browser Essentials. It loads 42% faster and opens swiftly even on low-spec PCs without an SSD and less RAM.

Similarly, the Favorites bar loads 40% faster than before. Windows Latest also tried its hands on a few experimental elements based on WebUI 2.0. These are included in the Canary build of Edge but remain inactive by default, and we had to force-enable them by modifying the launch type.

Among the many feature IDs we tried, the msInlineComposeWebUI appeared way faster than before. It is the Copilot compose box that pops up if you select a typed text snippet and click on the Rewrite with Copilot button.

As you can see from the below GIF, in the old version, a loading box launches after clicking the button, and there is a visible delay before the actual UI opens.

In the WebUI 2.0 version, there’s no loading animation, and the compose box opens almost immediately after clicking the button. Likewise, the msPdfWebui2 launches way faster than it used to.

Microsoft is slowly implementing these WebUI 2.0 elements in the browser. We have yet to see many of them in the stable version, but if you pay attention, there are some incremental upgrades to the usability and speed.

The company plans to incrementally improve Edge elements rather than releasing everything at once. It’s open to user feedback, and we think it’s the right approach if they want to make Edge more likable than Chrome. We wish it would do something about the excessive bloatware, too.

Recently, Windows Latest noticed that Microsoft Edge has been running some experiments to automatically reduce clutter by removing or move features to the more menu. It’s still far from over.

The post Microsoft Edge is getting really faster on Windows 11. Menus, elements load instantly appeared first on Windows Latest

Windows Latest spotted this issue on a community post where a user could not purchase credits. He resorted to the community in search of an answer and thought that the location was an issue.

Earlier, the user registered for Skype in Russia more than a decade back and wanted to buy credits in his current location, Brazil. Since Microsoft halted Skype services and purchases in Russia due to countrywide sanctions, the moderator suggested changing the billing address or creating a new account.

But the issue is more complicated than a region-based problem. Skype Number’s official purchase page now displays the “Skype Number is no longer available.’ banner. It suggests purchasing monthly plans instead of credits and using Skype to Skype for free calls.

Microsoft confirmed the Skype changes in a statement to Windows Latest.

Microsoft doesn’t have any other insights to share apart from this one-line statement about Skype Number. The Skype Credits page has a longer statement, “Skype Credit is no longer available. For new purchases, check out the monthly subscriptions or make a free Skype call to anyone anytime.” but lacks details.

When will the Skype Number be back?

We don’t think Skype Number is coming back. Pulling the plug on such a popular service would have some concrete reason behind it. Still, we hate the idea of cornering Skype users to monthly subscriptions instead of credits.

You would think, what’s the difference? The credits have an expiry date of 180 days. So, if you want to make short calls and don’t need continuous service, buying credits is the best option.

The subscription plans are good if you have to talk for long hours, but now there’s no option to choose between two. You’ll have to purchase monthly or bigger plans, which can be expensive depending on the region.

We are expecting Microsoft to elaborate on the reason for discontinuing these two popular Skype features. Until then, use the free app calls.

The post Microsoft halts Skype Number service, users cannot buy credits anymore appeared first on Windows Latest

So, let’s first talk about Edge Android Extensions’ support. Back in October, Windows Latest reported that Microsoft had added more extensions, including VPN extensions. Today, we noticed that Edge Canary was recently updated again, and there’s another new extension called “Android: Keepa – Amazon Price Tracker”.

This makes sense, right? I mean we’re approaching the holiday/Christmas season, and we just had a Black Friday. Black Monday is also here, so it obviously makes sense to add this extension to the Microsoft Edge Extensions Mobile catalogue. Windows Latest installed the latest version of the Edge Canary, and here’s the updated list of extensions:

• Keepa – Amazon Price Tracker
• Tampermonkey
• Dark Reader
• Global Speed
• Immersive Translate
• SponsorBlock for YouTube
• AIX Downloader
• FetchV – Video Downloader
• NordVPN
• Browsec VPN
• AdGuard VPN
• Violentmonkey
• ScriptCat
• Unhook – Remove YouTube Distractions
• I don’t care about cookies
• Cookie-Editor

Some of these extensions are actually good, especially on mobile.

For example, Tampermonkey and Violentmonkey will let you customize how websites work using small scripts. This is great if you want to block annoying ads, automate tasks, and more. Another good extension is Dark Reader, which adds dark mode to webpages. For YouTube, we also have SponsorBlock extension to block sponsorships and boring intros.

For shoppers, the new Keepa extension can help you save big during the holiday season.

The list goes on, and Microsoft sources have told me that there’ll be an official announcement soon, but I’m not expecting anything until January 2025. That’s because most of the staff will be on holiday during the December month.

Microsoft previously also tested more advanced extensions for Edge Android, but they’re missing after recent updates.

However, you’ll be able to sideload extensions using Edge developer settings. We’ve already discussed this in length in one of our previous articles, but we’ll repeat again.

First, you need to enable extensions in Edge Canary on Android from edge://flags, and search for “Android Extension.”

To add any extension, open Settings (hamburger icon > bottom right), go to About Microsoft Edge, and tap the “Edge Canary Version” five times to unlock Developer options.

A new Add Extensions option will appear in the Settings.

1 of 4

As shown in the above screenshots, you need to visit the Microsoft Edge Add-ons website, select an extension, and copy its ID from the URL (it’s the text after the last “/”). Return to Developer options, select Extension install by ID, paste the ID, and done.

You can now manage or use extensions from the Extensions menu in the browser.

In addition to Edge extensions, Microsoft Edge Android will let you choose between top and bottom location for the address bar.

Above screenshot is an example of Chrome Canary with the feature, which is also coming to Edge. Microsoft confirmed to us independently recenlty.

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