Microsoft’s new Chrome extension lets you browse across Windows 10 machines
10 months after Microsoft introduced the Windows 10 Timeline feature, it’s finally become a lot more useful to the 67% that use Chrome instead of Microsoft Edge.
Microsoft has now published its own Chrome extension, which adds Timeline support to the world’s most popular browser. This makes Timeline a hell of a lot more useful, as previously it was limited to Microsoft Edge if you wanted to view browsing history.
Related: Best web browser
To back up a little bit, here’s an introduction to Timeline. First introduced in the April 2018 update to Windows 10, the feature replaces the Task View with a history of what the computer has done in the past 30 days, including documents opened, websites visited and so on.
Crucially, this worked between devices, meaning you could open a document on your desktop and continue editing it on the move, say.
But with only Microsoft Edge supported, the browsing history element of the feature was considerably weakened. Despite being installed on the 40% of desktop and laptops that use Windows 10, Edge is only used by 4.6% of the world as a whole.
Unsurprisingly, then, Chrome support was “a top insider request”, according to the Microsoft Insider blog post announcing its release.
“As we move into planning for future development, we are focusing on yet another Insider request: add support for more apps in Timeline,” the post reads. “Browser support was especially high on our Insider’s wish list — which lead the recent introduction of our Chrome extension. Now, Timeline can now bring together even more activities.”
Related: Best Chrome extensions
Chrome has its own way of syncing browser history between sessions, but Microsoft’s solution bakes it into the Windows 10 taskbar making it a bit easier to access. The payoff, of course, is that you will have a copy of your browsing history sent to Microsoft, which may just feel a concession too far for those who value their privacy.
Firefox support has also been promised, but there’s no, uh, timeline for that release as yet.
Does this make Timeline more useful for you? Let us know on Twitter: @TrustedReviews.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
