If you’re an avid Google Chrome user, you’re probably familiar with the built-in sync feature that’s tied to your Google account. Chrome syncs a lot of data, including installed extensions, autocomplete data, bookmarks, credit cards, passwords, history, settings, themes, and even open tabs.
Of course, this all syncs with any other device that Google Chrome can run on, including Android and iOS phones, Chromebooks, or Mac / Linux computers. Until now, there was no such built-in feature in Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge.
With the earlier release of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft Edge now has some really useful features, one is extensions and the other is sync. For now, you can only sync bookmarks and reading list between devices, which isn’t very interesting, but that’s just the beginning.
Edge is currently only available on desktops, laptops, tablets (Surface) and Windows phones. The Edge browser is also available on Xbox One, but sync is not currently supported. However, this should appear in a future update.
Set up a Microsoft account
To start syncing in Edge, you first need to make sure you’re using a Microsoft account to sign in to your Windows device. If you’re using a local account on your computer, you won’t be able to sync anything.
You can do this by clicking Start, then Settings, and then Accounts.
If you’re using a Microsoft account, you’ll see your profile picture and a link to manage your online account. If you’re using a local account, you’ll see the option to sign in with your Microsoft account.
Once you’ve signed in to all of your devices using your Microsoft account, click Sync Settings at the bottom of the Accounts menu.
This dialog will list all of the individual items that can be synced to your Microsoft account. Most of the items are specific to Windows itself, but you should make sure Internet Explorer and Other Windows Settings are enabled.
Enable sync in Edge
Once you’ve completed the above tasks, we need to open Edge and enable device sync. To do this, click the button with three dots at the top right, and then click “Settings”.
Scroll down a bit until you see the Account heading and the Account Settings link. You will only see this link if you are not using a Microsoft account on this device.
If your Microsoft account is set up correctly, you can toggle the Sync Favorites and Reading List buttons. Clicking on the Device Synchronization Settings link opens the Synchronize Settings dialog box, which I mentioned above.
It’s worth noting that you need to manually enable sync in Edge on each device, even if your other devices are already signed in with the same Microsoft account.
Now whatever you save to your bookmarks or reading list will be displayed on your other devices as well. You can access both of these elements by clicking on the button with three horizontal lines of different lengths. The star icon is for bookmarks and the second icon is for the reading list.
It’s also worth noting that Edge doesn’t sync as quickly as Chrome. In Chrome, data usually syncs in seconds, but I had to wait a couple of minutes to over half an hour before I saw the data syncing in Edge. Whatever the reason for the slowness, I hope that it will soon be resolved.
Future versions of Edge will probably support syncing other data like extensions, passwords, etc., but this is currently limited. Enjoy!
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