5 ms·

> Edge's extension ecosystem is a walled garden. When it comes to browsers, I prefer freedom over performance and efficiency. This is why I'm still not switchin

> Edge's extension ecosystem is a walled garden. When it comes to browsers, I prefer freedom over performance and efficiency. This is why I'm still not switching to Edge. That's one reason, I guess. My reason for not using Edge is that Edge still, after all this time, can't save files from the internet. That's, like, the second thing that I expect a web browser to be able to do after looking at files from the internet. ( You can test this at home. Go to visit some arbitrary text file in Edge. Let's say https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Microsoft/vscode/master/LICENSE.txt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Microsoft/vscode/master/LI... for example. Now save it. File menu? Nope. Ctrl+S? Nope. Right-click? Nope. )

morganvachon 10y ago
I know it's not what you're looking for, but there is built in functionality to save a raw text file directly from Edge. You can click the Make a Web Note button to save it to OneNote. This, of course, requires that you actually use OneNote, which is not ideal for everyone.
- koolba 10y ago
  I can't tell if your comment is serious or sarcastic.
  - morganvachon 10y ago
    Well I did say it wasn't what he was looking for. :-) In all seriousness, it is definitely a glaring omission in Edge. Though, I can see the OneNote integration being useful on a tablet.
efraim 10y ago
Just right-click the link and choose save target as. Saying that it can't save files from the internet is a bit exaggerated.
- BugsJustFindMe 10y ago
  Link? What link? Did I say there was a link? I just gave you a URL. I said to go visit it. Once you're there, figure out how to save it. (props to morganvachon for figuring out that you can use OneNote, but omg)
  - vorticalbox 10y ago
    Just tried this on my phone (Lumia 950) I never even noticed this was an issue until now. I tend to not download files on my phone and my pc has Linux. Only option is to highlight it and save it using another program.
  - efraim 10y ago
    There is a link right in your comment, right click it to download the text file. There is usually a link to whatever file you want to download.
    - BugsJustFindMe 10y ago
      > There is a link right in your comment, right click it to download the text file Go to the file. Then try to save it. Don't argue with a scenario that I'm not talking about. HN adds that link, but not all links come from HN. I know this is asking a lot, but, maybe, just for the sake of argument, try to pretend like you were given the URL somewhere else that doesn't automatically hyperlink and that I didn't just make this up. Hell, pretend that you got it on a piece of paper and actually had to type it in like a caveman. Now save it. > There is usually a link to whatever file you want to download. If I understand correctly, what you're saying is that in some cases you just cannot save the file, and that in all other cases you just cannot save the file while looking at the file without knowing that you need to go...somewhere nebulously else? That's what I said too. I'm glad we're on the same page now.
      - efraim 10y ago
        You're right, there is no point in arguing this. You gave an example of a file that was "impossible" to download with Edge and I told you how to do it. If you really need to type in the URL yourself, just type in into Notepad's open file dialog and save it from there. It doesn't seem to be possible to download a file you already have open in Edge that you have no link to, but how often does that happen, really? I'm sure you can come up with lots of other scenarios that you can't do with Edge either, or Chrome.
fetbaffe 10y ago
I guess someone needs to write an extension for that.
- bartread 10y ago
  BOOM!!
- BugsJustFindMe 10y ago
  So I just spent the past few hours learning how and then trying... msSaveOrOpenBlob currently silently fails in Edge extension content scripts. My first workaround of creating an invisible objectURL download link from the document body text (trying to not re-download the file) and then programatically clicking it only partially works, because Edge currently ignores the download attribute value on links so you can't set the default file name and you get a disgusting GUID as the default filename instead. This is sadly the best option so far. My second workaround of re-transferring the file using the document URL directly, again with injecting a hidden automatically clicked <a> tag, also only partially works. This is in fact worse than the first workaround, because it doesn't even prompt to save or choose a file name. It just pops the file open in Notepad with the right file name but the wrong file extension, changing, for instance, "constants.js" to "constants.txt". And now I'm tired of this exercise. Back to just not caring about Edge.
ukyrgf 10y ago
Edge's right-click menu is a joke. It has to be a joke, right? Every so often I'll decide get my feet wet in Edge, maybe login to a few websites, and then I hit right click and it's right back to Chrome/Firefox.

morganvachon 10y ago

I know it's not what you're looking for, but there is built in functionality to save a raw text file directly from Edge. You can click the Make a Web Note button to save it to OneNote. This, of course, requires that you actually use OneNote, which is not ideal for everyone.

koolba 10y ago
I can't tell if your comment is serious or sarcastic.
- morganvachon 10y ago
  Well I did say it wasn't what he was looking for. :-) In all seriousness, it is definitely a glaring omission in Edge. Though, I can see the OneNote integration being useful on a tablet.

efraim 10y ago

Just right-click the link and choose save target as. Saying that it can't save files from the internet is a bit exaggerated.

BugsJustFindMe 10y ago
Link? What link? Did I say there was a link? I just gave you a URL. I said to go visit it. Once you're there, figure out how to save it. (props to morganvachon for figuring out that you can use OneNote, but omg)
- vorticalbox 10y ago
  Just tried this on my phone (Lumia 950) I never even noticed this was an issue until now. I tend to not download files on my phone and my pc has Linux. Only option is to highlight it and save it using another program.
- efraim 10y ago
  There is a link right in your comment, right click it to download the text file. There is usually a link to whatever file you want to download.
  - BugsJustFindMe 10y ago
    > There is a link right in your comment, right click it to download the text file Go to the file. Then try to save it. Don't argue with a scenario that I'm not talking about. HN adds that link, but not all links come from HN. I know this is asking a lot, but, maybe, just for the sake of argument, try to pretend like you were given the URL somewhere else that doesn't automatically hyperlink and that I didn't just make this up. Hell, pretend that you got it on a piece of paper and actually had to type it in like a caveman. Now save it. > There is usually a link to whatever file you want to download. If I understand correctly, what you're saying is that in some cases you just cannot save the file, and that in all other cases you just cannot save the file while looking at the file without knowing that you need to go...somewhere nebulously else? That's what I said too. I'm glad we're on the same page now.
    - efraim 10y ago
      You're right, there is no point in arguing this. You gave an example of a file that was "impossible" to download with Edge and I told you how to do it. If you really need to type in the URL yourself, just type in into Notepad's open file dialog and save it from there. It doesn't seem to be possible to download a file you already have open in Edge that you have no link to, but how often does that happen, really? I'm sure you can come up with lots of other scenarios that you can't do with Edge either, or Chrome.

fetbaffe 10y ago

I guess someone needs to write an extension for that.

bartread 10y ago
BOOM!!
BugsJustFindMe 10y ago
So I just spent the past few hours learning how and then trying... msSaveOrOpenBlob currently silently fails in Edge extension content scripts. My first workaround of creating an invisible objectURL download link from the document body text (trying to not re-download the file) and then programatically clicking it only partially works, because Edge currently ignores the download attribute value on links so you can't set the default file name and you get a disgusting GUID as the default filename instead. This is sadly the best option so far. My second workaround of re-transferring the file using the document URL directly, again with injecting a hidden automatically clicked <a> tag, also only partially works. This is in fact worse than the first workaround, because it doesn't even prompt to save or choose a file name. It just pops the file open in Notepad with the right file name but the wrong file extension, changing, for instance, "constants.js" to "constants.txt". And now I'm tired of this exercise. Back to just not caring about Edge.

ukyrgf 10y ago

Edge's right-click menu is a joke. It has to be a joke, right? Every so often I'll decide get my feet wet in Edge, maybe login to a few websites, and then I hit right click and it's right back to Chrome/Firefox.