Microsoft Edge 99 brings custom passwords for autofill and improved PDF navigation

Microsoft has released another new version of its Edge browser, this time bringing it to version 99. As it’s the last major release before version 100, Microsoft is once again warning web developers that the user agent string is going to change and that it could potentially break some websites. This is something that’s also happening with Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers.

As for what’s new in this update, Microsoft has added the ability to set a custom primary password for autofill in web forms. When you try to use autofill to enter your username and password on a website, Edge already asks to verify your identity with your Windows password or Windows Hello, so even if someone else is using your PC, they can’t easily access your login information. With Edge 99, you can set a custom password to protect your autofill information – a password to protect your passwords, if you will.

On that note, Microsoft has also added a policy that allows admins to block the password manager on certain websites. If you don’t want users to be able to save passwords and use autofill on specific websites, you can use the PasswordManagerBlocklist policy to do just that.

Back on user-facing features, Microsoft is also improving PDF navigation in Edge. You’ll now be able to see thumbnails for pages on the left-side pane, so you can more easily find what you’re looking for. Before, Edge only offered a navigation pane if the PDF file had a table of contents, so this should help with long documents that don’t have one.

Finally, and strangely enough, Microsoft is once again mentioning the ability to automatically switch user profiles for certain websites. This was originally mentioned in the changelog for Edge 98, but it was removed later on for unknown reasons. It seems to be back with Edge 99, meaning you can set specific websites to automatically switch you to a different user profile in Edge. That way, you can instantly access saved passwords from the correct profile, or log in right away without switching profiles manually.

Edge should update automatically sooner than later, but you can check for updates by going to the ellipsis menu, then choosing Help & feedback > About Microsoft Edge. If you don’t have the browser installed yet, you can download Edge here.

Source: Microsoft Docs