Microsoft Edge Adds Vertical Tabs and Collections on Windows 10

Microsoft has begun shipping two long-awaited features to its Edge browser running on Windows 10, giving the application a fresh look and a more practical set of tools for anyone who keeps dozens of tabs open while they work. Vertical tabs move the browser's tab strip from its familiar horizontal perch across the top of the window to a slim column on the side, while Collections turns scattered links, images, and notes into grouped boards that can be exported and shared.

The combination matters because Edge has spent the past few years trying to pull users away from Chrome and Firefox, and Microsoft has made no secret that it sees productivity as the browser's strongest pitch. By rearranging the chrome and adding a research-friendly workspace, the browser becomes a more compelling choice on the Windows desktops that still dominate offices and study spaces around the country.

Readers following the long road from the rumoured Windows 9 to the current Windows 10 release will recognise how these updates fit into a steady stream of refinements. Each build adds tools that quietly reshape everyday browsing, and this latest pair is the most visible change to the interface in a while.

What Vertical Tabs Actually Change

For anyone used to clicking along the top of a browser window, vertical tabs can feel odd for the first ten minutes. The strip of open tabs slides down the left edge of the window, taking up the same space that the favourites bar used to occupy. Each tab becomes a taller tile with the page title and the site's favicon stacked, and the strip can be pinned open or collapsed to a sliver when more screen real estate is needed.

The change is not just cosmetic. With a 13-inch laptop screen or an ultrawide monitor at a Sydney CBD desk, horizontal tabs disappear quickly once you open more than eight or nine pages. Vertical tabs keep every site label visible without shrinking the address bar or fighting with the window controls, and the layout adapts gracefully to the docking station hooked up to a widescreen at home. Readers who like to dress up the new tab page can pair the vertical strip with a moody night city wallpaper for a calmer browsing view.

Inside the Collections Workspace

Collections sits in the same area as vertical tabs, just above the favourites list, and behaves like a clipboard on steroids. Clicking the panel opens a side drawer where you can drop pages, images, highlighted snippets, and your own typed notes. Each board is colour-coded and saved across devices once you sign in with a Microsoft account.

The feature was originally pitched as a research tool for students planning assignments, and it works just as well for tradies comparing quotes on materials, or for anyone booking a holiday and wanting to keep tabs on flights, hotels, and local maps in one place. Boards can be exported to Word, Excel, or a CSV file, which removes the tedious copy-paste ritual many Australians still use when they need to share a list of options with a colleague.

Why Australian Desktop Users Will Notice the Difference

Australians spend more time on Windows machines than the global average, partly because corporate environments in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth still default to Microsoft software. Many readers manage multiple work tabs alongside a streaming service in the background, news sites, and a personal email account, so a layout that keeps everything legible during a long arvo at the desk pays off quickly.

There is also a regional wrinkle in how these features are delivered. Microsoft rolls out Edge updates through staged channels, and Australian users on the Telstra network or the NBN sometimes see the new build a day or two behind users in larger regions. Patience is usually the only remedy, and the rollout generally completes within a week of the initial announcement.

Rolling Out Across Regions and Update Channels

Microsoft has confirmed that the new features are arriving first in the Beta and Dev channels of Edge before reaching Stable users. Insiders running the latest builds have already spotted the toggle, and Stable users on Windows 10 version 1903 and above should see the options appear automatically over the next few updates.

IT administrators managing fleets of machines across universities and government departments will need to enable the features through group policy or simply let Microsoft Update handle the rollout. Home users, including those who only reboot their PC when Windows nags them during the nightly backup, will get the changes without lifting a finger. Anyone looking for the official changelog and earlier release notes can find them on the Windows9Update homepage.

Enabling the New Layout in a Few Clicks

For anyone who wants to switch on vertical tabs right away, the process is straightforward. Open Edge, type edge://flags into the address bar, and search for the relevant flags. Restart the browser, then head into Settings to confirm the new layout.

Steps to switch on the new tabs and collections

If the toggle does not appear, the build has not yet reached your machine, or the feature is gated behind a regional test that excludes the local market. Waiting a few days and running Windows Update again usually resolves the refresh.

How It Stacks Up Against Chrome and Firefox

Chrome has flirted with vertical tab extensions for years, and Firefox users have relied on Tree Style Tab add-ons to achieve a similar result. Microsoft has the advantage of building the feature into Edge natively, which means better performance, cleaner integration with the operating system, and accessibility features that third-party extensions rarely match.

Collections also stands apart from anything Chrome or Firefox ship today. While both browsers offer reading lists and bookmark folders, neither provides a workspace where you can drag images, capture text snippets, and export everything to a spreadsheet in a couple of clicks. The experience feels closer to a lightweight note-taking tool than a traditional bookmark manager.

What It Means for the Future of Edge on Windows

These features signal a longer-term plan to position Edge as the default browser for Windows users who want more than a simple web renderer. Microsoft has been steadily turning Edge into a hub for content, productivity, and now light research, and the additions are likely to land on macOS and Linux builds before the year is out.

For readers who want to follow every incremental change as it ships, the Windows Phone section of the site collects the smaller updates that affect the wider platform. Anyone keeping an eye on related announcements will find more detail in the broader Windows coverage archive.

Upcoming additions to watch for in Edge

Vertical tabs and Collections are not flashy additions, but they speak to a clear shift in how Microsoft thinks about browsing on Windows. By trimming the chrome and giving users a place to organise the mess of open tabs and research snippets, Edge is becoming a quieter, more capable companion for the working day. That is a change most Australians will appreciate the next time they sit down at their desk and try to find the right tab among twenty others.