Microsoft Edge Chromium For Mac



Tired of Chrome eating all your Mac's RAM? Microsoft might be able to help you. Microsoft's Edge browser is shaping up to be a strong and worthy opponent to Google Chrome. Hi, Need help regarding Edge chromium Beta selenium java automation. Using below code I am able to launch Edge Chromium beta(79.0.309.58) in windows 10. As its based on Chromium, Edge does things a little differently to what some Mac users may be used to. The button to close a tab is on the right of each tab, for example, whereas in most other Mac.

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A while back, Microsoft Edge was just the default Windows 10 web browser. After ditching the old EdgeHTML engine in favor of Chromium, it has finally started to gain serious traction. And rather surprisingly, Microsoft Edge is now also available on the Mac. But how does it stack against Apple's own native Safari browser for macOS?

Safari runs like a charm on the Mac with great performance and battery life. But being based on the Chromium engine does give Microsoft Edge an advantage coming into unfamiliar territory. Google Chrome uses the same browser engine, so adopting Chromium guarantees Edge greater web compatibility.

I've used Microsoft Edge alongside Safari ever since its arrival on the Mac. Here's my take on how Microsoft Edge fares against Safari on Mac.

User Interface

Microsoft Edge doesn't attempt to do anything special compared to Chromium alternatives such as Opera or Vivaldi. But its user interface just works. The default tabs provide a search bar that you can comfortably type into and quick links to sites that you frequently visit. You do get a rather annoying news feed, but it's something that you can quickly turn off.

The browser features a slightly larger-than-average address bar, which makes performing Omnibox searches a breeze. The nifty profile icon also allows you to manage, create, and use multiple profiles conveniently. At the same time, the Edge menu gives instant access to browser settings, extensions, progressive web apps, and other features.

However, Microsoft Edge does feel rather clunky and rough. Animations and transitions feel jarring, and I've often experienced input lag while navigating the user interface. However, those issues aren't that serious to put a dent in your browsing experience. After a while, you won't even notice.

On the other hand, Safari feels smooth and polished to near perfection. But its tiny tab strip and address bar aren't exactly geared toward great user experience. The fact that you have to use the confusing menu bars whenever you want to configure the browser seems rather dated.

Performance

It's almost impossible to beat Safari on the Mac in terms of performance. After all, Apple knows its hardware and software the best. But Microsoft Edge doesn't lag behind with its new Chromium engine. In my experience, Microsoft's browser performs almost on par with Safari.

Furthermore, Microsoft Edge technically has better compatibility withwebsites, once again, due to Chromium engine integration. So if you have trouble accessing asite in Safari, you can almost guarantee that it would load up justfine in Edge.

But what about battery life? Just like any native macOS application, Safari excels in that department.But Chromium has improved its efficiency over the yearson the Mac. So don't expect any rampant battery draining issues withEdge.

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Privacy Protection

Safari provides native protection against third-party cookies that monitor your browsing activity across websites. You can also ramp things up with content blocking extensions, which help a lot to thwart even more web trackers while improving page load times.

Microsoft Edge also doesn't disappoint when it comes to preserving your privacy. The browser comes with an integrated content blocking module dubbed Tracking Prevention. It offers three different levels of protection (Basic, Balanced, and Strict), which range from blocking tracking cookies, malicious scripts, to personalized advertisements.

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Extensions Support

Starting with version 13 of Safari for macOS, Apple completely dropped support for legacy extensions, which was a terrible move (at least in my opinion) despite the concerns over privacy. Hence, the current crop of 'supported extensions' is minimal.

Also, most compatible extensions require a fee to work in the first place. As a power user, I now find Safari a hard sell on the Mac.

The new Microsoft Edge, however, offers an impressive and growing library of extensions. Just head over to the Microsoft Edge Add-ons store. You can find a ton of add-ons that can dramatically boost your productivity, enhance your shopping or social media experience, and more.

To make things even better, Microsoft Edge lets you install extensions designed for other Chromium browsers such as Google Chrome.

Data Syncing

Microsoft Edge Chromium For Mac Download

While Safari is great at syncing bookmarks and passwords via iCloud to your iPhone and iPad, the browser isn't available outside the Apple ecosystem. Therefore, accessing your data on other platforms is often next to impossible. On Windows, the most you can do is sync your Safari bookmarks to Chrome or Firefox. And yes, better forget Android altogether.

Microsoft Edge for the Mac, on the other hand, is truly cross-platform. You can easily access your browsing data (bookmarks, passwords, extensions, etc.) not just on the iPhone and iPad, but also on Windows and Android. Of course, you must have a Microsoft Account to sync your Edge browsing data, but it's incredibly easy to create one.

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Pick Your Weapon Wisely

Microsoft Edge is shaping up to be a terrific web browser on the Mac, with unique features such as Collections starting to differentiate it from the myriad Chromium clones out there. It also receives frequent updates and feature revisions, something that Safari sorely lacks.

Both browsers offer solid privacy-related features, so a switchover depends completely on what else you prefer. If you like a user interface that's easy to use, an extensions library that allows for endless possibilities, or the ability to sync your data across multiple platforms, then Microsoft Edge is worth trying out.

For those of you who don't stray out of the Apple ecosystem much, love the performance and battery life in Safari, or its pure stability and reliability, it's just better to stick to the Mac's native web browser.

Next up:Decided to go with Microsoft Edge on your Mac? Check the next link to easily import your browsing data from other browsers to Microsoft Edge on your Mac.


The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.

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Alongside all the features and improvements in the roadmap for the new version of Microsoft Edge based on the Chromium engine, Microsoft includes a compatibility mode using the Internet Explorer rendering engine to load old websites.

The feature is known as “IE Mode,” and it has been designed for organizations to load internal sites without using a separate browser or having to redesign the site. The new approach loads the pages within Microsoft Edge like a regular website without using and managing multiple browsers.

If you want to start using it, the version of Microsoft Edge available through the stable channel now includes the “Internet Explorer compatibilities” settings to quickly enable IE Mode and a separate option to open Edge when browsing an incomparable website with Internet Explorer. Alongside the settings, it also possible to use the Group Policy Editor to configure the compatibility mode.

In this guide, you will learn the steps to enable IE Mode to load legacy websites using the Internet Explorer rendering engine on Chromium Edge for Windows 10. (You can also watch this video tutorial to configure the feature.)

Microsoft chromium edge browser for mac

How to enable IE mode on Microsoft Edge

To enable IE mode on Edge, use these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.

  2. Click the Settings and More (ellipsis) button on the top-right corner.

  3. Select the Settings option.

  4. Click on Default browser.

  5. Under the “Internet Explorer compatibility” section, turn on the “Allow sites to be reloaded in Internet Explorer mode” toggle switch.

  6. Click the Restart button.

Once you complete the steps, when sites require Internet Explorer, you can use Microsoft Edge to reload the page using IE mode.

Open site with IE Mode on Edge

After the IE Mode is enabled, you need to reload a page with the compatibility mode manually.

To open an incompatible website with IE Mode on Edge, use these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.

  2. Click the Settings and More (ellipsis) button on the top-right corner.

  3. Select the More tools submenu and choose the “Reload in Internet Explorer mode” option.

After you complete the steps, the website should reload in compatibility mode. If the feature is not enabled, then the option won’t be available in the menu.

If you want to exit IE Mode, you can use the same instructions, but on step No. 3, select the Exit Internet Explorer mode option.

Open Internet Explorer sites on Microsoft Edge

On Windows 10, Microsoft Edge also lets you configure the browser so that when someone is using Internet Explorer incompatible or all sites will load within Edge.

To let IE open websites with Edge, use these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.

  2. Click the Settings and More (ellipsis) button on the top-right corner.

  3. Select the Settings option.

  4. Click on Default browser.

  5. Under the “Internet Explorer compatibility” section, use the “Let Internet Explorer open sites in Microsoft Edge” drop-down menu and select the option to handle browsing when using Internet Explorer, including:

    • Never – IE will never switch to Edge to load the site.
    • Incompatible sites only – IE will still load sites, but websites designed for a modern browser will load in Edge.
    • Always – IE will always switch to Edge to load websites.

Once you complete the steps, when surfing the web in Internet Explorer, websites will open on Microsoft Edge, according to your configuration.

How to enable IE mode with Group Policy on Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge Chromium For Mac

Alternatively, you can also enable IE Mode on Chromium Edge with Group Policy. However, you will need to download and install the policy template before you can configure the Group Policy settings.

Install Microsoft Edge policy template

Microsoft Edge For Mac Catalina

To install the policy template to enable IE Mode on Edge, use these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Edge for business website.

  2. Under the “Policy File” section, click the Download button.

  3. Select the version of Microsoft Edge. (Usually, you want to use the latest stable version available.)

  4. Select the build (latest version available).

  5. Select the platform — for example, Windows 64-bit.

  6. Click the Get policy files option.

  7. Click the Accept & download button.

  8. Double-click to open the MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates.zip file.

  9. Click the Extract all button from the “Compressed Folder Tools” tab.

  10. (Optional) Select the location to extract the files.

  11. Check the Show extracted files when complete option.

  12. Click the Extract button.

  13. Browse the following path inside the (extracted) “MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates” folder:

  14. Select the msedge.admx and msedgeupdate.admx files and click the Copy option from the “Home” tab.

    Quick tip: You only need to copy the “msedgeupdate.admx” file if you want to control the update settings of Microsoft Edge.

  15. Browse to the following path:

  16. Click the Paste button from the “Home” tab.

  17. In the “admx” folder, inside the “MicrosoftEdgePolicyTemplates” folder, open the language folder that represents your language — for example, en-US.

  18. Select the msedge.adml and msedgeupdate.adml files and click the Copy option from the “Home” tab.

    Quick tip: You only need to copy the “msedgeupdate.adml” file if you also copy the file on step No.12.

  19. Browse to the following path that matches your language:

    In the above command, make sure to change en-US for the folder that matches your language.

  20. Click the Paste button from the “Home” tab.

Once you complete the steps, the new policies to enable or disable IE Mode on Edge Chromium will install in the Group Policy Editor.

Enable IE Mode on Microsoft Edge

Ms Edge Chromium For Mac

To enable IE Mode on Chromium Edge with Group Policy, use these steps:

  1. Open Start.

  2. Search for gpedit and click the top result to open the Group Policy Editor.

  3. Browse the following path:

  4. Double-click the Configure Internet Explorer integration policy.

  5. Select the Enabled option to enable IE Mode for Microsoft Edge.

  6. Under the “Options” section, select the Internet Explorer mode from the dropdown menu.

  7. Click the Apply button.

  8. Click the OK button.

After you complete the steps, websites will render in compatibility mode, and you’ll notice a familiar IE icon on the left side of the address bar letting you know the website is using Internet Explorer.

Chromium Browser For Mac

These steps enable IE Mode for intranet websites. If you want to load external websites using Chromium Edge, you need to enable and set up the “Configure the Enterprise Mode Site List” policy, which includes the creation of an XML file with the list of domains that you want to load automatically with the Internet Explorer mode.

Update February 11, 2021: This guide has been revised with the steps to configure IE Mode on the Chromium version of Microsoft Edge using the new compatibility settings and updated the process to install the Group Policy templates.