Microsoft Edge Dev channel snags read aloud, payment info improvements

Microsoft pushed out another new weekly build for the Microsoft Edge Dev channel today. This update comes in as version 83.0.478.5, and it mostly focuses on several improvements and reliability fixes. Moreover, there are a handful of minor features, like nicknames for payment cards and the option to read aloud select portions of text.

Notably, this is also the release candidate for the next beta build, which explains why it’s fairly light on features.

Here’s a look at all of what’s new, fixed, and improved in this Dev channel release.

• Added the ability to select text and read aloud just the selection.
• Added the ability to add nicknames to payment cards that are stored for easy differentiation.
• Added support for websites to ask for permission to edit files on your device (not supported by all devices).
• Added support for importing data from Firefox using the Auto Import At First Run management policy.
• Added support for the DNS Over HTTPS Mode management policy from upstream Chromium.
• Fixed an issue where random renderer processes sometimes use high, constant amounts of CPU.
• Fixed an issue where closing a tab sometimes crashes the browser.
• Fixed an issue where closing a tab containing a PDF document sometimes crashes the browser.
• Fixed a crash on launch on Mac.
• Fixed an issue where attempting to report an unsafe website sometimes crashes the browser.
• Fixed an issue where using Picture-in-Picture mode to view a video sometimes crashes the browser.
• Fixed an issue where dragging an image into a Collection sometimes crashes the Collections pane.
• Changed the Passwords page in Settings to no longer show the number of characters in a password before being given permission to show the password itself.
• Fixed an issue where trying to copy data out of a form in a PDF sometimes copies text from the main PDF content instead if there’s any text highlighted at the time.
• Fixed an issue where PDFs are not automatically downloaded when the “Always Open PDF Externally” management policy is enabled.
• Improved detection of sites where payment information is submitted in order to offer better suggestions for when to save payment card info.
• Fixed an issue where attempting to manually import data from Firefox sometimes showed multiple Firefox entries.
• Fixed an issue where password autosuggest popups sometimes appear above the text box instead of below it.
• Fixed an issue where management policies that modify the new tab page break the setting to only show the Favorites Bar on the new tab page.
• Fixed an issue where signing into the browser with a Work or School account sometimes leads to work or school websites being blocked when they shouldn’t be.
• Fixed an issue where links that create IE mode tabs in new windows sometimes fail to create more tabs after the first in the new window.

For more information on this release, including a look at the known issues, you can check out Microsoft’s full release notes. Microsoft says it may also release a minor revision for this build later in the week to ensure it stays “perfectly in sync with all the changes from the Chromium project” before bumping the Dev channel to version 84 next week.

If you’re already testing the Dev channel, this update should be rolling out now. To grab the latest Dev, Canary, or Beta builds, you can check out Microsoft’s Edge Insider site. The release version is also available through the official Microsoft Edge site.