Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) on the Chromium-based Edge browser are getting the ability to be open as tabbed windows. With the latest update released in the Canary channel of the Edge Insider program, version 88.0.678.0, the feature has been added under a hidden flag, originally spotted by Reddit user Leopeva24-2.
Currently, a PWA can only work as regular window, so any click that would cause links to open in a new tab would take you back to the main Edge window. With tabbed windows for PWAs, opening links in new tabs will open a new tab inside the PWA, as long as the link itself is part of the same website as the PWA itself. So, for something like Twitter, you may be able to open tweets and or user profiles within the same Twitter window, but opening articles from within Twitter will still take you to a regular Edge window.
In order to enable this feature, you'll need to enter edge://flags in your address bar, then search for "Desktop PWA tab strips". Once you enable the flag, you'll be prompted to restart the browser.
Now, when installing a new web app, such as Twitter, the prompt will ask whether you want it to behave as a tabbed window or not. Check the box and the installed app will now be able to open multiple tabs. It's worth noting that the change won't retroactively affect your installed apps. If you want to turn your current PWAs into tabbed windows, you'll need to uninstall them and install them again.
Based on our testing, there are still some slight visual glitches, such as the page title being displayed behind the open tabs and extending to the whole tab strip. That shouldn't be much of a surprise since the feature is only available in the Canary channel and hidden behind an experimental flag. The experience should be more fleshed out by the time it's more widely available.
Do you find tabbed PWA windows useful? Let us know in the comments!
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