Microsoft Edge Collections vs Bookmarks: Which One You Should Use to Save a Weblink

Microsoft is making headlines with Edge, its new Chromium-based browser. After ditching its in-house EdgeHTML browser, the tech giant finally switched to the industry-leading Chromium engine to load web pages. With the Windows 10 May 2020 update, Edge browser becomes the default option in Windows 10. Microsoft has built a set of features like better scrolling, Edge collections, and more on Chromium offerings. in Edge to avoid direct comparison with Chrome.

Along with the Microsoft Edge browser, the software giant added an advanced bookmark manager called Collections. In some ways, it’s similar to favorites (Microsoft designates bookmarks as favorites in the Edge browser) and yet differs from the traditional bookmarks manager.

Depending on your needs and usage, you can use Edge Collections or Bookmarks (Favorites). In this article, we will cover the difference between them and which one you should choose to save web links. Let’s start.

What is the Microsoft Edge collection

The Microsoft Edge collection feature aims to reduce the clutter and confusion of multiple tabs, bookmarks, and note-taking tools whenever you want to focus on a particular task while using the new Microsoft Edge browser. This is useful when searching for a topic and you want something more than just the bookmarks manager.

For example, let’s say you’re comparing products while shopping online or doing research for your next assignment. Collections allow you to easily group your results, whether they are links to pages, images, videos or snippets of text as a “collection”.

Not only can you easily collect information on websites, browser windows, or tabs, but it is also possible to add it to your collections in subsequent browsing sessions. And to make things better, Collections even lets you insert your notes into the mix.

Edge collections and bookmarks manager

Let’s take a look at how Microsoft Edge collections and Favorites differ from each other, where you can find them in the browser, keyboard shortcut support, and other features for organizing web links.

Location

The Collections feature is saved directly to the Microsoft Edge address bar. You will find the “+” icon in the upper right corner. Tap on it and the browser will open the Collections menu. You can hide it using the right click option.

The Favorites tab is right next to the Collection icon. You can also pin the favorites bar just below the address bar in the Edge browser. Just tap on the three-dot menu in the top right corner and go to Favorites> Show Favorites Bar> Select Always. Now you can see and access the favorites bar at the top. This is something that the Edge collections lack. Hope Microsoft adds other ways to access specific web links in collections.

Add web links

There are several ways to add web links in the bookmarks manager (Favorites). First, you can import bookmarks from another browser to Microsoft Edge. Just tap on the three-dot menu in the top right corner and go to Favorites> Import> Choose existing installed browser and import bookmarks.

When you visit a web page and want to save it for later use, tap the star icon in the address bar, select the bookmarks bar or the corresponding folder.

Microsoft Edge collections work slightly differently from the normal bookmark feature. Visit the web page you want to add to a collection. Tap the Collection icon in the address bar, select the appropriate collection or create a new one and select “Add current page”.

You can also add notes to a collection, which is missing in the Edge browser bookmarks manager. In classic Microsoft style, you can edit the note with bold italic fonts, add bullets, and even change the header style.

Unfortunately, there is no way to import web links from the other browser to the Edge collection. You will therefore have to start from scratch to create a collection.

Keyboard shortcuts

This can be a deciding factor. The Favorites bar and the Favorites menu support keyboard shortcuts. You can use Ctrl + D on Windows or Command + D on Mac to quickly add a web page to the Favorites menu. Edge browser has also integrated keyboard shortcuts to manage bookmarks, show / hide bookmarks bar, etc.

Unfortunately, there is no keyboard shortcut support for the Edge Collections feature. You’ll have to rely on a few clicks to get things done.

Organization of web links

The Favorites menu provides an easy way to organize web links. You can create as many folders there and add web links to a relevant folder.

As for the collections, you can create as many collections as you want. While adding a web page to it, simply select the appropriate collection and add a web link to it. Unfortunately, there is no way to find a web link or collection in the Edge Collection menu. The Favorites menu allows you to search for a web link using the built-in search bar.

Mobile experience

As expected, the Favorites (Bookmarks) and Collection functions are available on the mobile. Just tap on the three-dot menu in the middle and you can access the Favorites and Collections menu on Android or iOS. Interestingly, you can search collections on mobile, but not on the desktop.

Record web links on the go

I am using the Bookmarks (Favorites) menu to save web pages for later use. Two reasons for this. The ability to search web links using the search bar and if you plan to switch to another browser in the future you can still export the bookmarks with you which is not possible with the collections. Try Collections and see if that fits your use case. If you do a lot of research on a topic and organize your thoughts with notes, you can use Edge Collections on Standard Bookmarks.