No no no, we are not sad. *slumps in the corner crying*
Microsoft is officially shutting down Collections, one of the more unique productivity features inside the Edge browser, and many users believe the move reflects the company’s growing obsession with AI-first experiences.
According to Microsoft’s support documentation, Collections in Edge is being discontinued beginning June 2026. The feature allowed users to save groups of webpages, images, notes, shopping links, and research material into organized visual boards directly inside the browser. For students, researchers, online shoppers, and multitaskers, Collections became one of Edge’s most practical hidden tools – and one of the few browser features that genuinely stood apart from Chrome and Safari.
Collections first launched as a productivity-focused tool that blended bookmarking, note-taking, and visual organization into a single interface. Unlike traditional bookmarks, users could drag webpages, screenshots, text snippets, and images into categorized boards that synced across devices. It became especially popular for planning trips, organizing research projects, comparing products, and saving inspiration from across the web.
Now, Microsoft appears ready to move on.
The removal of Collections arrives as Microsoft aggressively transforms Edge into a platform centered around Copilot and generative AI features. Over the past two years, the company has integrated AI-powered assistants into nearly every part of Edge, from sidebar chat tools and webpage summarization to writing assistance and contextual search.
Critics argue that Collections represented a genuinely useful feature focused on human productivity rather than AI automation. Unlike some newer AI additions that users may ignore entirely, Collections solved a simple but common problem: organizing information gathered across the web without relying on third-party apps like Notion, Pinterest, or Pocket.
We at Digital Trends previously described the feature as one of the browser’s best hidden tools, particularly because it offered a more visual and intuitive alternative to cluttered bookmark folders. Users could quickly collect shopping comparisons, project research, recipes, or reading material into organized workspaces without leaving the browser.
Microsoft has not directly stated that AI features are replacing Collections, but the timing has fueled criticism that practical browser tools are increasingly being sacrificed to make room for AI-centric experiences and interface redesigns.
The broader concern extends beyond Edge itself. Across the tech industry, companies are rapidly reshaping products around generative AI, sometimes at the expense of smaller features users genuinely rely on every day.
For longtime Edge users, the shutdown represents the loss of one of the browser’s clearest identity features. While Chrome dominates browser market share, Edge often differentiates itself through smaller quality-of-life tools like vertical tabs, sleeping tabs, and Collections.
The removal could particularly frustrate users who built workflows around the feature for productivity, shopping research, or creative organization. Microsoft has not yet introduced a direct replacement that replicates the same visual organizational experience.
At the same time, the decision signals how seriously Microsoft is prioritizing AI integration across Windows and Edge. The company increasingly sees Copilot as the centerpiece of its software ecosystem, and browser development now appears heavily focused on AI-assisted experiences rather than traditional productivity utilities.
For some users, that future may sound exciting. For others, it may feel like another example of useful software features quietly disappearing in favor of AI tools they never asked for.
While schools around the world are still debating whether artificial intelligence should be restricted in classrooms, Estonia has chosen a radically different approach: give students more AI, not less. The Baltic nation has distributed free ChatGPT access to nearly 20,000 high-school students as part of a nationwide experiment that could reshape how education systems think about AI-assisted learning.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the initiative targets 10th and 11th-grade students across Estonia and represents one of the first large-scale attempts to integrate generative AI directly into national education systems rather than treating it as a threat. Officials realized early that students were already using chatbots extensively for homework and learning tasks, making outright bans increasingly unrealistic.
After years of forcing Bing into nearly every corner of Windows Search, Microsoft may finally be giving users a way out. The company is reportedly testing changes in Windows 11 that would allow people to completely disable Bing-powered web results from the operating system’s built-in Search experience.
For many PC users, this is a long-overdue change. Windows Search has spent years blending local file searches with Bing suggestions, online results, news links, and Microsoft services – often frustrating users who simply wanted to find an app, document, or system setting on their computer.
OpenAI is reportedly preparing a major transformation of ChatGPT that could fundamentally change how people interact with artificial intelligence. Instead of remaining primarily a conversational chatbot, the company now wants ChatGPT to evolve into a “super app” powered by AI agents capable of managing tasks across both personal and professional life.
According to a report by the Financial Times, OpenAI executives increasingly believe the future of AI lies not in chatbots that simply answer questions, but in intelligent systems that actively complete tasks for users. The company’s long-term vision reportedly includes AI agents capable of organizing schedules, booking travel, writing software, generating content, and managing workflows across multiple services and platforms.
Upgrade your lifestyleDigital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast-paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks.
Leave a Reply