Microsoft Edge is to receive a handy theme color picker, allowing you to switch the colors up in your browser easily.
The color picking tool is currently available in Microsoft Edge Canary, the daily update channel for the Edge browser.
What Is the Microsoft Edge Color Picker?
The Microsoft Edge color picker is a new feature for Windows 10's default web browser. It'll let you choose a default color for your browser, changing the color highlight accent at the top of the browser, as well as the color for each new tab you open.
At the time of writing, the colors are limited to Microsoft's choices, such as dark blue, pink, teal, and so on. They're not terrible, but they might not be your first option.
A later update to the color picker tool will enable users to pick any color from their desktop background, matching your browser to the rest of your carefully curated desktop aesthetic.
The color picker is still a work-in-progress, but you can combine it with the Microsoft Edge Default Theme options (currently Light, Dark, or System default) to create an extra bit of style.
How to Use the Microsoft Edge Accent Color Tool
You can go ahead and use the Microsoft Edge accent color right now—but only if you're using Microsoft Edge Canary.
Microsoft operates three main update channels for the Edge browser.
The Stable Channel receives updates roughly every six weeks, and the updates receive extensive testing before rollout. The Dev Channel receives weekly updates and highlights upcoming features that are ready for testing.
Whereas the Canary Channel receives daily updates and is the bleeding edge of Microsoft Edge update channels. Downloads for the Insider Channels are found on the Microsoft Edge Insider site.
After downloading and installing Microsoft Edge Canary, you can activate the accent color tool using the browser flags. Browser flags are special experimental options available to Chromium-based browsers. You'll find similar experimental flags available in Google Chrome, for instance.
To activate the accent color picker:
- Input edge://flags in the browser address bar and press Enter.
- Type color-theme in the flags search bar and locate #edge-color-theme-picker.
- Enable the color picker option, then Restart the browser when given the option.
After the browser reloads, head to Settings > Appearance. From here, you can customize the default Microsoft Edge theme, as well as choose your accent color.
As an aside, Google Chrome will also receive the same color accent picker option. As Microsoft Edge is now a Chromium-based browser, it makes sense that the two browsers would receive the update within a similar timeframe.
There is one difference, however. The Google Chrome version will include the "color picker eye dropper" option, which allows you to pick a color from your screen as your browser accent. As with Microsoft Edge, you must enable these options in the Chrome flags menu.