Microsoft has been dedicated to keeping its Chromium-based browser Edge relevant and ahead of the game. With exciting features like sleeping tabs that don’t hog resources on the computer like other browsers, Edge has been delivering some great updates.

Another feature that has users’ interest piqued is the ‘Drop’ feature that Microsoft has been testing in one of the beta channels for Edge. Have you ever been in a situation where you’re browsing the net on one device and come across a link or downloaded a file that you also want on your other devices? With Edge’s Drop feature, it’s easy to share files and notes between your devices running Microsoft Edge.

What is Drop and How Does It Work?

Drop is a built-in feature in Microsoft Edge that lets you share files or text with yourself using the browser itself. You can share files on your computer and access them on your mobile phone, for instance.

Sharing files isn’t exactly free. Drop uses Microsoft’s OneDrive storage to share files. Of course, it can be argued that you can directly use OneDrive to share files. But using it through Edge makes it faster to access. There doesn’t seem to be any restrictions on the types of file you can share. Microsoft has also reportedly integrated a screenshot functionality into the feature that’ll allow you to capture screenshots and send them directly, but it hasn’t rolled out widely yet.

It’s simple to use Drop but first, there are a few things you need to know. This feature is only available on the Canary channel in the Microsoft Edge Insider Program. You can get Microsoft Edge Canary from the Edge Insider website; it doesn’t affect your stable Edge.

Even then, it’s still not widely available. From our experience, it’s available on the latest build of Windows Insider; the feature didn’t appear until we installed the latest update from Settings. It isn’t available yet on Microsoft Edge Canary on macOS.

Now with that out of the way, let’s see how Drop works.

Enabling Drop in Microsoft Edge

There are many new features in Edge that aren’t enabled by default; Drop is one of those features. You’ll have to enable it first to use it.

Open Microsoft Edge Canary on your computer. The sidebar should be visible by default if you’re opening it for the first time. (If you’re opening it for the first time, then you’ll have to go through the setup prompts first). If the sidebar isn’t visible, click the three-dot menu icon in the top right.

Then, select ‘Show sidebar’ from the menu after scrolling down. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + / to show and hide the sidebar without having to hop menus.

Now, from the sidebar, click the ‘+’ icon.

Then, enable the toggle for ‘Drop’.

You can also enable the feature by opening ‘Settings’ from the three-dot menu.

Then, go to ‘Sidebar’ from the menu on the left.

Click the ‘Customize sidebar’ option.

Then, enable the toggle for ‘Drop’ from the Customize sidebar panel.

Using Drop to Share Files

To share files using Drop, click its icon from the sidebar.

Drop will open in a panel on the right. Click ‘Start’ on the onboarding message.

If you’re not signed in to your Microsoft account on the browser, you’ll need to sign in as it uses your OneDrive storage.

You can send any link or note by typing it in the message box and clicking ‘Send’.

To send any file, either click the ‘+’ button on the left of the message field and select a file from your computer or you can directly drop the file in the Drop panel to upload it.

If you drop the file, click the ‘Send’ option once it uploads in the panel. If you select a file by clicking the ‘+’ icon, it’ll be sent automatically.

You can view these files on the Edge browser on any other device that has the Drop functionality on.

To delete a sent note or file, click the three-dot menu icon on the message and select ‘Delete’ from the context menu.

To view how much storage you have left or change how to open the files, click the three-dot menu on the upper-right corner of the Drop panel.

You’ll see your OneDrive storage there. Clicking the ‘Free Up Space’ option will take you to OneDrive.

You’ll find a separate folder for ‘Microsoft Edge Drop Files’ there.

On the Drop panel, by scrolling further down, you’ll find the option for ‘Prefer Opening File with’. Click the drop-down menu to change between ‘Associated App’ or ‘OneDrive Online’; the default option is associated app.

You can also change how to open the file on a per-file basis. Click ‘Back’ on the top-left corner to return to the main view. Then, click the three-dot menu icon on the file. Then, select whether you want to open it with OneDrive online or the associated app.

That’s all about Drop. We’ll remind you that it’s still an experimental feature and is only available in the Microsoft Edge Insider channel Canary as of now.