Microsoft has replaced its Edge browser built on its own technologies with the new Edge built on top of Chromium. Chromium is the open-source engine behind Google Chrome, Brave, and now Microsoft Edge. However, Microsoft rushed the new version before it was feature-complete with its predecessor. Here‘s how to restore Edge integration with Windows Timeline / Task View.
Windows Timeline is weirdly architected with little regard for user privacy. It works by sending activity data from your device to Microsoft, and then downloading the same activity stream for display on your device. If you’re worried about your privacy when using Windows Timeline, I’ve discussed it in a previous article.
Microsoft Edge doesn’t currently support syncing browsing history between your devices. History sync is presumably a requirement for Timeline integration as it links your browsing history with your Microsoft Account. The setting for it says it’s ”coming soon!“ However, it isn’t expected until , according to BetaNews.
Notably, Windows Diagnostics is still recording your web browsing history and sending it to Microsoft even without history sync enabled. You can confirm this using the Windows Diagnostic Data Viewer app from Microsoft. (I’ll stop complaining about the privacy aspects of this feature now.)
There are ways to restore Edge’s integration with Windows Timeline if you miss the feature, however. You can do so by installing and logging in to Microsoft’s Web Activity extension for Google Chrome in Edge. The extension was designed to be used with Google Chrome, but you can also install it in the new Microsoft Edge. Microsoft hasn’t uploaded a copy to Edge’s extension store. However, Edge can install extensions from the Chrome Extension Store too!
You should try and remember to uninstall the extension once Windows Timeline integration is fixed in Edge. Otherwise, you may end up with duplicated activity entries in Windows Timeline.
Firefox (and Chrome, and Edge) users can alternatively use a third-party extension. I’ve discussed this extension in more detail in an earlier article. The two extensions work almost the same. The most significant difference between the two is that Microsoft’s extension will delete entries from Timeline when you delete them from your history in Microsoft Edge. The third-party extension doesn’t try to keep the browser history and Timeline in sync.