Microsoft Edge Canary new tab page replaces MSN with Copilot

By Judy Sanhz Published April 24, 2025 12:27 PM

Microsoft Edge appears on a computer screen with plants and a window in the background. — Alan Truly / Digital Trends

Microsoft is testing a new Copilot-powered interface in the Canary version of Edge, replacing the MSN feed on the New Tab Page in an attempt to streamline browsing, according to Windows Latest. Users can enable it via experimental flags.

If the new design rolls out to the stable version, Copilot will replace the familiar MSN feed as the first thing you see when you open a new tab. You’ll see a compose box in an uncluttered design with a greeting message that asks, “How can I help you today?”

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The default option will choose between a Copilot response or a Bing search to answer your question. You can open a webpage, write a draft, or get advice on any given topic. The Edge browser also gives you the option of having Copilot answer everything for you or stick with Bing.com.

The Copilot button has three options you can choose from, such as:

Default – This is for search and chat suggestions. For example, if you search for “restaurants near me”, Bing will jump in, but if you ask it to summarize something, Copilot will.
Chat – Currently, the chat option redirects you to Bing.com, but this should change when and if it rolls out to all users.
Search and Navigate – This option focuses on web searching, excluding AI responses.

At the bottom of the page, you’ll also see options like Write a first draft, Learn something new, and Get advice. However, they only redirect you to Bing.com for now.

You need to use Edge Canary to test this feature, which may or may not be included in the stable version. If you’re using Canary, you can type “edge://flags” into the address bar and press Enter. Search for “NTP” at the top of the page, toggle on the flags, and restart the browser.

This appears to be an attempt to get more users to use Copilot. If it’s not giving Copilot the Vision feature that allows it to view and interact with your screen, it’s something else. At least the Vision feature isn’t limited to Copilot+ PCs, unlike the new Recall feature. That makes it more accessible to everyday users without specialized hardware.

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Computing Writer

Judy Sanhz is a Digital Trends computing writer covering all computing news. Loves all operating systems and devices.

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Researcher agent in action inside Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

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The overarching idea, however, isn’t too different. You tell the Copilot AI to come up with thoroughly researched material on a certain topic or create an action plan, and it will oblige by producing a detailed document that would otherwise take hours of human research and compilation. It’s all about performing complex, multi-step research on your behalf as an autonomous AI agent.
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Researcher: A reasoning agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot
How Researcher agent works?
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“Researcher’s intelligence to reason and connect the dots leads to magical moments,” claims Microsoft. Researcher agent can be configured by users to reference data from the web, local files, meeting recordings, emails, chats, and sales agent, on an individual basis — all of them, or just a select few.

Why it stands out?

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