Microsoft publishes Edge extensions page and extensions accidentally

Microsoft Edge is a bare-bones web browser that the company shipped with its Windows 10 operating system, and it seems that previous versions of Windows won't be supported by Edge.

Microsoft removed support for legacy features such as ActiveX or Browser Helper Objects in Edge, and built it around web standards.

Edge performs better than Internet Explorer in nearly any benchmark you throw at it, and while that is a step in the right direction, its poor set of features and settings give users less control over the browser.

Microsoft promised to integrate extensions support in the Edge browser which could improve the situation significantly for users of the browser.

Extensions support was delayed to 2016 however and since Microsoft has been tight-lipped so far in regards to the implementation, little was known what Edge extensions would add to the browser.

A leaked web page, which has been pulled in the meantime, revealed additional information about extensions support in Microsoft Edge.

The two pages of the pulled website highlight showed how extensions are integrated into the Edge browser, reveal two sample extensions that will be made available, and how extensions are installed.

Microsoft plans to launch extensions support for Insider Builds of Windows 10 first. According to the "installing an extension" section of the leaked site, extensions need to be installed manually in preview releases of the browser. Microsoft will integrate the process directly into the Edge browser in release versions.

The two extensions highlighted on the page are Reddit Enhancement Suite, a popular browser extension and script to improve Reddit, and a Pin It Button for Pinterest.

To install extensions, Edge users need to download the extension file to their local system. Both sample extensions released by Microsoft come with a setup.cmd file that needs to be run to install the extension in Edge.

This won't work right now however even on the latest Windows Insider build. While you can run the setup file on the system, Edge won't display an Extensions entry just yet in the browser's menu.

A quick comparison of the Edge and Chrome version of Reddit Enhancement Suite reveals that both extensions are nearly identical which confirms Microsoft's claim that the porting of Chrome extensions to Edge is a simple process. The majority of extensions should work just fine on Edge once ported but some, for instance those that use Chrome-specific features, won't.

Extensions support could boost the public opinion of Microsoft Edge significantly.

Now You: Are you looking forward to extensions support in Microsoft Edge?