Collections is a new feature in Microsoft Edge which allows you to ‘collect’ information you find on the web and store it all in one place. It is a great tool for saving your web-based research.

You can add text, images, web pages, and your own notes to a collection. You can export your collections at any time to Word, Excel, and OneNote. You can also use your SHU Microsoft account to sync and access your collections the cloud, and access on all your devices.

Create a new collection

Open Microsoft Edge and select Collections to the right of the address bar. 

Select the Collections button in the top-right corner of Edge, which is highlighted here in red.

The Collections menu will now appear on the right-hand side of the screen.

We can now create a Collection by clicking Start New Collection at the top of the Collections menu.

You can now give your collection a name. Press the enter key or click outside the text field to confirm the name.

The new collection ‘Sheffield’ has now been created, and you can start to add information to it.

Add to a collection

Press on the collection you wish to content to. Here we will select the ‘Sheffield’ collection.

We have now selected a collection, and we’re ready to add content to it.

Adding a web page

If you want to add an entire web page to your collection, just select the Add Current Page button in the collections menu.

Once we have selected Add Current Page, the current web page will appear in the ‘Sheffield’ collection.

The web page’s address will also be saved, so you can revisit the site later. You can select the item to load the web page in the browser.

Adding a text selection

You can also add individual pieces of texts to your Collection that you find on a web page. The web address where you found the text will be saved alongside the text selection, so you can revisit or reference the page later.

To save some text to your collection, firstly select some text on the web page and then right click.

You can now select Add to Collections in the right-click menu and choose the relevant collection to add the text selection to.

The text now appears as an item in your collection menu.

You can also select some text, then drag and drop the text into the collections pane.

Here’s a video to demonstrate the drag and drop technique.

The image now appears in your collection.

You can also drag and drop the image directly into the collections menu on the right.

Adding a note to a collection

Your collections can also include your own notes. Use notes to record your own thoughts and ideas about your research. Select the notes button at the top-right of the menu.

A new, blank note is now created in your collection.