Peter Cao
Everybody wants better battery life on their laptop, right? Well, Microsoft is trying to solve that problem with a new feature in its Edge browser called Sleeping Tabs. What it does is freeze or “sleep” your tabs when you’re not actively using them. This equates to is improved battery life and reduced load on your computer overall. It’s rolling out in beta with version 88 or later.
Update: Microsoft says this feature is rolling out now to all Edge users.
Sleep works similarly to the Great Suspender extension in Google Chrome. They both try to be intelligent by putting inactive tabs to sleep, therefore enabling greater battery life and less memory usage on your computer.
While Great Suspender is super cool and useful, it’s nice to see a similar feature being built right in, no additional extensions required. Both the Great Suspender and Sleeping Tabs in Edge share similar features. For example, you’ll have the option to automatically put a tab to sleep after a set amount of time. And Sleeping Tabs is smart enough that it won’t turn on if you’re currently on a video call, playing audio, or casting your screen.
Microsoft says that it will continue to monitor and add more exceptions based on user feedback. If you need to “wake” or resume a tab, simply click on it to pick up where you’ve left off.
Additionally, you can go into Edge’s settings (by typing edge://settings/system) and manually add sites to a list that you don’t want to ever go to sleep. You’ll get a visual indicator to let you know which tabs have been put to sleep.
Hopefully, Chrome isn’t too far behind in implementing a similar feature. Both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are based on the open-source Chromium engine. Often, Microsoft contributes to the engine by adding features and fixing bugs.
If you’d like to take sleeping tabs for a spin, you’ll need to be on the Edge beta running version 88 or later. It’s worth noting that even if you’re on the beta, you might not see it yet. Microsoft says it’s still in the process of rolling out the feature. Microsoft’s Edge browser is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Source: Microsoft via Bleeping Computer
