Microsoft is rolling out the latest version of its Edge browser - Edge 97 - to users in the stable channel. This update includes a handful of new features, including Citations, which Microsoft started testing with Edge Insiders two months ago.
Citations is built into Edge and it makes it easier to properly cite sources in academic work. It's an optional feature, and it's enabled as part of Collections, which allows users to save multiple pages in groups under a common theme. With Citations enabled in Edge, students can get the citation for a given page with the right format - APA, MLA, and Chicago. Users can set the type of source they're viewing, such as whether it's a standard webpage or a book, indicate the authors, and the citation text will be generated automatically.
Another new feature in Edge 97 is the ability to use the current Edge profile to sign into work or school websites automatically when there are multiple accounts stored on the device. Until now, if you had multiple Edge profiles set up with a work or school account and you visited a website that had different accounts stored for it, Edge would ask you to choose an account to sign in with. Now, the browser will sign you in automatically to websites with the account associated with the current Edge profile.
This release also comes with a handful of security-related upgrades. Edge 97 will automatically try to use HTTPS for domains that support it, so users can establish more secure connections to websites they visit, though this feature is rolling out in stages. Microsoft has also added Control Flow Guard (CFG), an additional layer of protection against memory corruption vulnerabilities, only for users on Windows 8 and layer.
Additionally, Edge will now block WebSQL elements in third-party frames in websites, and Microsoft will remove support for them completely in version 101. The Chromium project is also removing support for WebSQL with version 97. Finally, Microsoft is adding support for Microsoft Endpoint Data Loss prevention on macOS.
In addition to all of this, this version of Edge adds a long list of new policies, including one to re-enable WebSQL if needed, only available until Edge version 101. You can find the full list below.
If you want to download Microsoft Edge and haven't done so yet, you can do that here. If you already have it installed (which is likely if you're on Windows 10 or 11), you can check for updates from the three-dot menu under Help & Feedback and then About Microsoft Edge. The update should also install automatically sooner rather than later.