Microsoft has added Office to Microsoft Edge’s context menu, making it easier for users to access the office suite from the web. The move comes as part of a wider effort by Microsoft to make its web-based products more accessible and efficient. Office is available as a separate app in the Windows Store and can be accessed through the context menu on websites such as Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. The company says that Office will be updated regularly and that users can expect new features and improvements in each update.
Microsoft Edge has been in the news a lot lately. The browser is making headlines again with its latest version, which adds Office to Edge’s context menu and ads to the new tab page. Both are sure to be divisive changes to Windows’ built-in browser.
Starting with the Office integration, which was first spotted by a Reddit user (h/t Windows Latest), Edge’s right-click menu has a new option labeled “New Office Tab.” Clicking it will open a sub-menu with options to open a Word, Powerpoint, or Excel tab. Interestingly, the feature doesn’t appear to be locked to just Microsoft 365 subscribers, so everyone should be able to use it.
Any time there’s a change, there will be people unhappy with it, and a Reddit thread has popped up with users complaining that the context menu is too bloated. One Reddit user summed up their thoughts rather concisely by saying, “Oh god no… more crap in the context menu.”
If that has people upset, the other part of this update will have them fuming because Microsoft appears to be adding even more ads to Edge. Some users are seeing ads for services like Microsoft Start, which is the company’s new homepage. The ads appear to be focused on introducing you to other Microsoft services, but that could be the beginning. We’ll have to wait and see if third-party ads start appearing in the browser’s new tab page in the future.
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