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The Mysterious Disappearance of Smart Copy - Where Did It Go?

Anonymous
2024-07-13T06:54:58+00:00

There was a very cool, useful feature that Edge offered called Smart Copy. This incredibly useful tool seems to have vanished. What reason does Microsoft have for removing such a useful feature? Was there a conflict of interest where a premium paid product had that feature and Microsoft makes money off it, thus needed to remove the free ability for users of MS Edge? Why does Microsoft hate its users? Please bring back Smart Copy to improve user experience.

Microsoft Edge | Other | Android

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  1. Paulo GM 63,460 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2024-07-13T08:54:40+00:00

    Hi TheStreetDerek, I am Paulo and I'd like to help.

    I believe the Smart Copy eventually became Web Select and this feature was deprecated according to the official article.

    "Deprecation of Web Select. To improve end-user experience, this feature is being deprecated and will no longer be an option under Web Capture or via keyboard shortcut."

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/mi...

    I've read in a tech article that the functionality is being deprecated because of limited usage and expensive support costs, according to Mikhail Parakhin of Microsoft's Windows and Web Experiences team.

    https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-edge-web-select

    Unfortunately, the tricks to bring it back are no longer working. However, I have found an alternative that might help.

    https://tools.nsreem.com/web-select/

    (Disclaimer: There are non-Microsoft websites in this reply. The pages appear to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the sites before downloading and installing it.)

    I hope this provides some info about the disappearance of the feature.

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