How to edit images in Edge using the built-in editor
There are hundreds of image editing applications available for Windows and Mac. However, most of these applications have limitations and you have to install and use them separately outside of the browser. Now you don’t need any third-party image editing applications or extensions because the Microsoft Edge browser has a built-in image editor. You can edit any image on the site you are reading directly from Edge and save it with markdown.
Image Editing in Edge
Edge already has a Web Capture feature that allows you to take screenshots and add annotations. The new image editing feature does not require you to take screenshots. All you need is to hover or right-click and edit the image. The editor has basic features for cropping, applying filters, and annotations.
- Go to the edge://settings/help , page in Edge and install the latest version.
- At this time, the feature looks different in Windows and Mac Edge versions. On Mac, you can select the Edge hover menu, while the Windows version has the right-click context menu.
Right-click to edit images in Edge
- When you are reading a web page, just right-click on any image.
- Select the “Edit Image” option from the context menu.
This is a solid choice because it works on both Windows and Mac .
Enable and use the hover menu in Edge
At this time, the Hover Menu option is only present in the Mac version, and you can expect it to be included in later Windows versions.
- Go to the edge://settings/appearance page and scroll down to the Context Menu heading.
- Click on the Hover Menu option to open its settings.
- On the next page, enable the “Show Hover Menu on Image Hover” option.
- Once enabled, hover over any image and you will see the Visual Search and Settings icons on the top right corner of the image.
- Click on the Settings icon and select the Edit Image option.
If the hover menu is disturbing, you can choose the “Hide for this site” or “Always hide” option. You can always go to Edge settings and enable the option again.
Edge Image Editor
Whether you use the hover menu or the right-click context menu, Edge will open the selected image with the built-in editor. The Edge Image Editor has the following options:
Crop
Under this tab, you can grab any edge of the image and crop it to resize as needed. You do have a lot of options for rotation displayed below the image.
- Rotate 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.
- Flip the image horizontally and vertically.
- Use the angle slider to rotate the image to any specific angle.
- Click the “Free” button and change the aspect ratio of the image.
Adjust
Here you can adjust the light and color settings of your image. Move the sliders under the “Light” section to change the brightness, contrast, exposure, highlights, shadows, and vignette. The “Color” section allows you to change the saturation, warmth, and tint.
Filters
Here you can select one of the available filters to change the look of your image. You can choose from over 15 filters such as punch, golden, calm, and more.
Markup
Go to the Markup tab and select a pen or highlighter from the left pallet. Click on the pen or highlighter again and select the color and thickness. Now you can annotate on the image to markup or write using the selected color. You can also choose to remove the markups one by one using the “Remove Ink Strokes” option in the pallet or use “Clear All Ink Strokes” to remove all the markups with a single click.
You can undo, redo, or reset the image to its original state at any time. If the image is too small, use the zoom icons to zoom in and add markups. Once you are done editing, click the Save button and download the edited image to your computer. Edge will download the modified image to your Downloads folder and save the image in PNG format.
You can also copy an image to your clipboard and paste it anywhere without saving it.
Summary
Unlike the old Edge browser, the latest Chromium-based Edge has many new features, such as Image Editor, Web Capture, Sidebar, Bing AI Chat, and more. Image Editor is a cool option to capture, edit, and annotate any image from the web and save it for your reference. However, make sure to respect the copyright and ownership of the image. Usually, images on websites are copyrighted, so avoid using them for your organization or commercial purposes. If you have any doubts, contact the website owner and get the proper permission.
