Microsoft’s Edge browser has returned support for the EPUB ebook format

Microsoft Edge browser has finally restored support for EPUB format, an e-book format that can be read on different devices. Microsoft used to provide this feature in the Edge browser but dropped it after moving Edge from its own engine to Chromium.

Microsoft Edge’s latest Canary beta, 117.0.1989.0, has re-added EPUB support, allowing users to open and read EPUB documents in the Edge browser. At the moment, this feature is still rather rudimentary and limited, and can only perform basic reading functions, such as turning pages, viewing the table of contents, and adding bookmarks. Older Edge browsers used to offer more EPUB-related tools, such as adjusting fonts, changing background colors, reading text aloud, and so on, but you can’t be too hard on Microsoft at the moment, and it should continue to improve and add the missing pieces in the future.

Those who want to read EPUB files in the Microsoft Edge browser can download the latest Canary beta from the official website. Then, you need to make some changes to the shortcut of the browser and add a parameter to enable the EPUB reader function.

The specific operation method is as follows:

• Launch Microsoft Edge Canary and open Edge://settings/ help to install the latest update.
• Close the browser, right-click on its shortcut and select Properties.
• Add the following to the path: –enable-features=msEdgeEpubReaderEnabled.
• Launch the browser with the modified shortcut and try to open any EPUB file. You can also customize EPUB-related permission settings to choose whether to open EPUB files directly or download them locally.

Microsoft hasn’t officially announced that the Edge browser has restored support for the EPUB format, so it’s unclear what features developers plan to implement. Microsoft used to sell eBooks in the Microsoft Store, but has since abandoned that plan.

Source - TechGoing