The brilliant Microsoft Edge option that convinced me to drop Google Chrome for good

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I have been using Microsoft Edge ever since it was based on EdgeHTML, Microsoft’s proprietary engine designed to compete with Google’s open source Chromium.

A lot has changed since then, the biggest one being Microsoft ditching EdgeHTML in favor of Chromium to redevelop the Edge browser.

While I always preferred Chromium over EdgeHTML, I didn’t make Microsoft Edge the default browser immediately after the company embraced Google’s open source engine.

While Microsoft’s Chromium adoption made it easy to switch, I wasn’t ready to give up on Chrome for some of its brilliant features.

However, I could only manage to delay switching to Edge and eventually made it my default web browser. I switched because I stopped pretending that I didn’t need the unique capabilities in Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft’s web browser offers plenty of those, but nothing has impacted me more than a cross-device feature called Drop. It convinced me to switch to Edge and drop Google Chrome for good.

The name was exciting enough to draw my interest in the feature, but little did I know I would become indispensable. Before trying the feature, I didn’t even realize I needed the feature to boost my productivity.

I realized it was worth having in my workflow instantly after getting my hands on the feature for the first time. Drop in Microsoft Edge feels like a universal inbox for all your devices, where you can run the browser.

That’s what I felt when I dropped the first message in Drop in Edge’s desktop client and could easily access it on my phone. The message can be text-based, a link to websites, an image, or other files from your desktop.

When you share them in Drop, they remain visible on all your Edge clients. So, if you drop something using a desktop, it automatically appears on Edge mobile clients. However, you need to use the same Microsoft account on all your Edge clients for this work.

The Drop feature is available on both desktop and mobile, though it’s easier to access the feature on a desktop because it lives in the sidebar when you launch it. So, you can quickly grab a link or a file from your desktop without leaving the current page.

This is not possible in the Edge mobile client, but you can still use it and send everything that you could using a desktop. So, you can pick something from your phone, share it using Drop, and then access it on your desktop later.

I admit this isn’t a huge revolution in my workflow, but it eliminates the friction when you need something on another device without requiring another app.

Before using Drop, I thought sending those files to myself on WhatsApp was normal to get them on another device.

However, what Microsoft did with Drop isn’t something unique. The company’s Phone Link app was designed to solve the same kind of problem.

In the Apple ecosystem, you can also enjoy a lot of features that Drop offers.

I use both ecosystems, but I still prefer sending something to another device through Drop because it’s less dependent on a specific hardware ecosystem, unlike in the case of Phone Link or Apple’s Continuity features.

To use Drop in Microsoft Edge, click the three-dot menu, hover the mouse pointer over the More tools option, and select Drop.

You can also pin Drop to Edge’s toolbar. To do so, right-click the Drop option in the More actions menu, and select the Show in toolbar button.

Google Chrome has support for cross-device features, but none of them match what Drop in Edge offers. While you can send tabs to other devices that run Chrome, it doesn’t allow sharing files and notes as conveniently as Drop does.

Not only that, but Drop allows you to drag an image on a web page to Drop in the sidebar of the Edge browser. This will save the image on OneDrive instead of local storage, so you no longer have to clutter the Downloads folder to access files on all your devices.

Chrome supports a side panel, but Google designed it completely for a different purpose. However, one specific feature alone can’t be enough if the core features of a web browser are broken.

I quit Google’s web browser because I didn’t miss its performance after switching to Microsoft Edge. Instead, I got more, especially in the form of Drop.

I went back to Chrome a week after using Drop in Edge, and it immediately felt like a downgrade. Edge, being a Chromium browser, doesn’t compromise on core features you need for a smooth web browsing experience.

I don’t plan to stick to Edge as my default browser forever. I am currently testing other web browsers to see where they can outshine Edge and Chrome. for example, I recently tested Brave and found it better than Chrome in many ways.

Still, Drop remains one of the most useful features I’ve ever used on a web browser. Even if I don’t find another browser that significantly outperforms Chrome and Edge, this feature alone is enough to keep Edge as my default.