Microsoft Edge gets a nifty new feature to swiftly clear browsing data

Woman using a Windows computer with Microsoft Edge
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft has brought in a new piece of functionality for Edge allowing users to easily clear the browser’s cache and history, but it’s only in testing right now.

As spotted by Leopeva64 on Twitter, Microsoft made the change with the Canary (earliest test) version of Edge, introducing a trash can icon that allows for clearing browser data with a single click.

The icon is in the History hub, and it takes you straight to the clear data panel, where you can then click ‘Clear Now’ to remove whatever you have selected (cache, browsing history or download history, or cookies).

Technically, then, it’s a two-click process (assuming you’re clearing everything), but still, the shortcut to get to the panel is a handy touch.


Analysis: Full steam ahead with interface changes

Microsoft made another change to the History hub last month, as the Twitter leaker pointed out at the time, making it longer (stretching the full length of the browser window so you can view more of your browsing history at once).

There’s a fair bit of work going on regarding the interface of Edge in general, too. Most recently, we’ve witnessed Microsoft implementing a darker dark mode (which is fully black, rather than dark gray – again, this tweak, which might prove divisive, is in the Canary channel).

Perhaps the most exciting development we’ve seen in recent times, though, is a glimpse of a new Settings panel that allows you to turn off (or on) optional features, a potentially very useful chunk of UI that could help tame bloat with Edge. And given the amount of features Microsoft has been adding to its browser of late, that could help to assuage some fears about it becoming too clunky a beast of an app.

Via MS Power User

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).