Adobe’s Flash Player’s days are numbered. Ever since Adobe first announced its plan to kill Flash, there has been a countdown going on to the end-of-life (EOL) Flash. Most of the players in the industry including Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Apple announced their plans to kill Flash completely by end of 2020 shortly after.
Why is Flash Shutting Down?
Flash has long been a part of the creative content – such as videos, games, animations and more – on the web. But with the advent of new web standards, such as HTML5, WebGL that provide all capabilities and functionalities that Flash provided, but with improved performance, battery life, and increased security, it is no surprise that all modern browsers are implementing these standards and leaving Flash behind.
Adobe also will no longer update and distribute Flash by the end of 2020. Most browsers, including Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge, have begun phasing out Flash gradually to realize its complete removal by Dec. 2020.
How to Run Flash on Websites in Microsoft Edge?
Microsoft has recently moved Edge to Chromium. The New Microsoft Edge will replace the legacy version of Edge upon downloading. The browser might have changed but nothing changes when it comes to its policy towards Flash. It has begun blocking it but hasn’t completely disabled it yet. You can still run Flash on Edge browser.
Microsoft Edge has started blocking Flash by default. Whenever a website tries to run Flash, you will see a Plug-in blocked message on the right side of Edge’s address bar.
To enable Flash content, click on the Lock icon at the left side of the Edge’s address bar. Click on the Flash box and choose Allow to run Flash content.
Edge will ask you to Reload the page, once you reload the page, Flash content will load. But Edge will not remember your settings once you quit it. That means every time you visit a website that runs Flash, you will have to repeat the process mentioned above.
How to Enable Click-to-Play Flash in Edge
If you frequently visit a website that uses Flash Plug-ins, it can get annoying to repeat the process mentioned above every time. There is no method to allow Flash for a website permanently on Edge, but you can enable Click-to-Play Flash instead. It is a lot smoother.
To enable Click-to-Play Flash, click on the puzzle icon at the right side of the address bar, and click on Manage.
Alternatively, you can also click on the ellipses (…) at the right end of the address bar and go to Settings.
Then click on Site Permissions » Adobe Flash.
Clicking on the Manage option will also bring you to the same page. Click on the toggle to turn on the Ask before running Flash setting.
Now every time you visit a website that runs Flash, Edge will ask for your permission to Allow or Block Flash, instead of blocking it on its own. Click on Allow to run Flash.
And, Edge will also remember this setting even after you quit it. But it will display a message saying that Flash Player will no longer be supported after December 2020 and prompt you to turn it off every time you restart Edge.
The whole process to run Flash has become a hassle on almost every browser, but that’s only because they want to discourage you from using it so that when, ultimately, the EOL Flash does take effect, the transition will be smooth.
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