Microsoft is retiring Edge Drop to make room for Copilot

Microsoft Edge is about to lose yet another one of my favorite features. Edge Drop is being — ahem — dropped in favor of AI.

The latest version of Edge Canary shows a message about the change if you open the Drop feature:

“Drop is being retired. Files you share are saved in your OneDrive. Text notes need to be downloaded separately.”

Microsoft does not specifically state why Drop is being retired. I believe the reason is a combination of low usage and Microsoft wanting the same space in Edge to house Copilot. We saw a similar development with the retirement of the Edge Sidebar.

Leo Varela discovered the upcoming retirement and shared screenshots on X.

I once called Microsoft Edge Drop “the best browser feature you’re not using.” That may have proven to be a little too accurate, because the feature is now being retired. Presumably, usage of Edge Drop was low, making other parts of the browser a higher priority.

What is Microsoft Edge Drop?

Edge Drop is a feature within the browser that lets you send messages, files and photos to yourself. All your content stays within a single thread, making it easy to find. The experience is powered by OneDrive, which is why you can still access your content after Drop is retired.

When you send something through Drop, it appears on any instance of Edge on supported devices, which currently includes desktop and mobile versions of the browser.

Drop lives within the Sidebar of Edge on your desktop, which is likely why the feature is going away. Microsoft has prioritized placing Copilot in the same spot as the Sidebar and Drop.

I think there’s a way for all the Sidebar features and Copilot to coexist. Low usage figures are likely another factor in the retirement of Drop. While I love Drop, it’s similar to sending messages to yourself through WhatsApp, Telegram, or any other messaging service.

The reality may be that people who want to send messages to themselves want to do so without having to use a specific browser on multiple devices.

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