Edge vs. Chrome: 6 Reasons to Switch to Microsoft Edge (2024)

Google Chrome remains the world's most popular browser, but it's time to switch to Microsoft Edge. Don't believe us?

There are six Microsoft Edge features that will make you ditch Chrome once and for all, including vertical tabs, web capture, Collections, and more.

1. Vertical Tabs

First announced in 2021, Microsoft Edge's vertical tabs are one of the best features for expert tab management. As the name suggests, the feature organizes tabs vertically on top of one another instead of using the standard horizontal display.

Vertical tabs are one of the best browser hacks for efficient browsing. The vertical display allows you to preview more tabs, and you can easily resize the tabs bar. You can use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Plus to enable vertical tabs. If you're looking for an extra productive combo, vertical tabs work well with Microsoft Edge's tab groups.

2. Collections

Edge's Collections offers an easier way to access and save important ideas when browsing. With Collections, you can group different websites into categories and even save website text. What's more, you can also add short notes to a collection, making Collections a powerful tool that combines note-taking with tab management.

Collections offer an improved experience over using Bookmarks, which is a great reason you might consider ditching Chrome for Edge. To enable quicker access to your saved links, Edge features some handy shortcuts for Collections. For instance, you can open all links in a Collection in new tabs or a new window. There's also a shortcut to copy all items from a Collection to your clipboard for easier sharing between apps.

3. Immersive Reader

Immersive Reader is a simplified web page view, stripping away pop-ups and similar distractions to help you focus on what you're reading. Originally designed for readers with dyslexia and dysgraphia, Immersive Reader does an excellent job of making web content easy to read.

The Edge Immersive Reader shortcut is F9. You can also add read: before any URL to view the page in Immersive Reader mode (i.e., read:https://makeuseof.com). There are several readability options you can discover by clicking the Text preferences button. Here, you can change the text spacing and size, select a new font, and access dark themes for easier viewing at night. Also included is the Read Aloud feature, where you can listen to web pages being spoken at custom speeds by different voices.

4. Web Capture

Web Capture offers an easy way to capture information from the web without using third-party apps or extensions. It offers two capture options: capturing by area or capturing a full page. The latter option is a very useful feature that most third-party apps can't handle.

You can activate Edge's web capture at any point by using the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + S. In addition to capturing text and images, you can also annotate screenshots with Edge's PDF drawing tools. Then, after capturing an image, you can copy it to your clipboard or share it with others.

5. Edge PDF Reader

One reason you should be using Microsoft Edge is its built-in PDF reader. Edge's PDF reader has some impressive tools for viewing and editing documents, such as basic form filling, a table of contents section, and annotation features.

The PDF reader also includes drawing tools similar to those used in Web Capture. But there are some additional features, including highlighting and adding text boxes, offering a smart way to take notes on a PDF. To use Edge's PDF Reader for all your files, you'll need to first change your default PDF reader on Windows.

6. Browser Essentials

Microsoft Edge is well-known for its privacy options, such as tracking protection and balanced and strict security modes, and Edge's Browser Essentials hub is built to help keep you safe and improve your browser's performance.

The Browser Essentials Safety tab is particularly useful, giving an overview of all the sites that have been scanned and any potential risks that have been detected. You can also view your memory usage in the Performance tab and enable efficiency mode to help save resources while browsing.