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Using the Edge sidebar to drop images - and much more
You can customise the Edge sidebar to let you launch programs like WhatsApp or RightMove easily on your laptop, and also use it to drag and drop files or text between your computer and your phone.

Posted by Andy Brown on 25 April 2023

In this blog

Introducing the Edge Sidebar
Showing the sidebar
Customising your sidebar
Showing Drop
Drop on your mobile phone

Using the Edge sidebar to drop images - and much more

Thanks (again) to Simon Ranson for bringing this to my attention!

Introducing the Edge Sidebar

If you're using Microsoft Edge as your browser, you can use the sidebar to access some favourite programs:

Here I've customised my sidebar so that I can quickly (from top to bottom) run Microsoft 365 apps, access the BBC website, watch YouTube videos, go to Spotify and Netflix, use WhatsApp on my laptop and check out what's new on RightMove.

The Drop feature allows you to copy and paste images and other files between your laptop and your phone (for example):

The Drop facility.

This blog shows how you can display and customise your Edge sidebar, and also how to access and use Drop.

Showing the sidebar

To make sure you can see the Edge sidebar, go to Edge settings. First click on these 3 dots:

Click here to show the Edge drop-down menu.

At the bottom of the menu you'll be able to change Edge settings:

Click here to change your settings.

You can then choose these options to show your sidebar:

Choose the option shown to "always show" your sidebar.

Customising your sidebar

At the bottom of the sidebar is a + button. Click on this to change what you see:

You can add additional icons (or remove existing ones) when you click on the plus button.

One app that you shouldn't add?

Each to their own, I guess ...

Showing Drop

If you scroll down the panel shown above, you'll see the option to show the Drop feature:

Choose this option to show the paper dart Drop icon.

You can then click on the dart icon to use Drop:

Click on this icon to drag and drop files or text!

Behind the scenes, Edge uses OneNote to store anything you drop into the sidebar (so you must be logged on to your Microsoft account to use it).

Drop on your mobile phone

The great thing about Drop is that you can then use it to move things between your phone and laptop. Here's how you can do this on an iPhone, for example. Start by using the Edge app:

The Edge app is the one on the left; the others are varying sources of truth ...

Now click on the 3 dots button:

Click on this to customise how Edge behaves.

Choose to show your settings:

Click on this icon to show Drop.

You can now copy text or images from Drop, or paste them into it!

Just type in text or click on the + icon to add a file.

I would be an enthusiastic user of this feature if it weren't for a strange bug (unique to Wise Owl, it seems) which prevents us from using some Microsoft 365 apps when we're signed on to our network!

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