The sidebar (sidebar) of Microsoft Edge has become, during the last months, in a very important element of the Redmond browser. Because? Well, because in addition to many other functions, more or less practical depending on the interests of each one, it is now also responsible for providing direct access to the new Bing chatbot directly from the browser, that is, without having to access your Web page.
It is already more than known that Microsoft is focusing on taking such a chatbot to as many locations as possible. Just yesterday we told you that, after an incredibly short beta phase, Swiftkey for Android and iOS already provides access to it, and that in the same update they have also brought it to the Start app and improved its integration with Skype. It is normal, they know that they currently have an advantage in terms of the implementation of artificial intelligence and, of course, they are playing all their cards.
However, it would be a mistake to think that Redmond has lost its mind and that they are only interested in the new Bing. Quite the contrary, and quite intelligently, They are trying to take advantage of the chatbot’s pull to give more relevance to other products and services in their catalog. The most obvious example is, of course, Microsoft Edge, which shared the limelight in the presentation of the new Bing, but it will also play a key role in the reach of Microsoft 365, among others.
You can see, on the right side of the desktop, the Microsoft Edge sidebar undocked from the browser.
The latest movement in this regard is especially interesting and is that, as we can read in The Verge, Microsoft Edge will allow you to undock its sidebar to dock it to the Windows desktop. In this way we will have permanent access to it while the browser is open, even if it is minimized. This function is currently being tested in the Canary and Dev versions and, as we can read, its deployment is limited, so not all users of both can use it yet.
Its operation is very simple. You just have to look, at the bottom of it, for the button to “Disassociate from Edge”. A click on it will slightly modify its appearance, but if we minimize Microsoft Edge or go to another window, we will see that the bar continues to be displayed, as you can see in the image shown above the previous paragraph. In this way, we can access the chatbot at any time and from anywhere. To return it to its normal location, in the browser, we will only have to click on “Attach to Edge”.
However, as I mentioned before, hehe sidebar in Microsoft Edge doesn’t just provide access to the new Bing. From it we will also have Microsoft 365, Outlook, Drop, a selection of useful tools at the click of a mouse… in addition, of course, to be able to customize it by adding new shortcuts, deleting existing ones, and so on.
This, of course, depends on preferences, but after trying it for a few minutes, because in my case I have already obtained access to it, I must admit that it seems to me to be a very useful option for many cases. At the moment I am only going to test it, since it is limited to the test versions of Microsoft Edge, but when I reach the final version, I do not rule out using it, at least for a while, to see if it is finally as practical as it seems to me. at the moment. If so, Microsoft will have scored an important success.
