Using Writer for Microsoft Edge

Who can use this feature

  • Supported on Free, Starter, Team, and Enterprise plans

What’s in this article:

Installation

To install the Writer for Microsoft Edge extension, open the Writer page on the Edge Add-Ons store here.
Select Get.

If you are on an Enterprise plan and belong to multiple teams, you can select your team from the Team dropdown menu. (You won’t see the Team dropdown on the Team or Free plan, or if you only belong to one team on Enterprise.)

By default, Writer for Edge will be activated on every site where there are text input fields. If you don't want Writer checking content on a site, or want to pause checking for a while, simply toggle the switch off for that site. Note: This will make the change for yourself only and not for every member of your team.

Receiving suggestions on your content

Learn how to customize the suggestions you’re getting from Writer with this deep dive article,

Writer offers real-time suggestions about how to improve your written content, to keep your writing accurate, compliant, and on-brand. Writer will underline errors or issues in your Writer. Some of those will be from Writer (categories like grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity) and others from your company’s settings in Writer. Learn more about the different types of suggestions here.

The extension will generally appear on multi-line text fields such as body text (and not on single-line text fields like subject lines or titles).

You’ll get quick corrections in-line, meaning you can hover and immediately accept a replacement suggestion. 

In the corner of your text area across the web, clicking on the W icon or content score will expand the Writer for Edge extension side panel and give you additional writing guidance.
Here’s an example of that demonstrated inside a Gmail draft:

Each card gives the error and a suggested fix. To replace your text with the correction, select the green highlighted replacement. Writer will apply the correction to the body of your text. You can also delete the suggestion or add the term to your term bank directly from the card.

Not all issues flagged will have a correction provided by Writer. In those cases, we’ll give you guidance on how to rewrite your sentence, including Learn More modules for harder concepts (like passive voice).

You can hide the side panel by clicking the double arrow icon at the top right. You can refresh the score by clicking on the circular score icon:

Insert snippets into your content

Snippets are reusable pieces of text that you can create in Writer and insert wherever you’re writing. Learn more about creating snippets here.

With the sidebar extended, select Snippets to reveal your library of presaved text. Click on a snippet to copy it to your clipboard, then paste it directly into your workspace.

Use commands to generate content anywhere

When you're on a roll, the last thing you want to do is switch tabs! Now, you can generate content, break out of writer's block, or rewrite content right from wherever you're working using our new commands feature. Learn more about commands here.

To open the commands widget, select the ✨ sparkle icon located next to the Writer W logo or content score. When selected, the commands menu will appear in the top right corner of the screen.

To generate content, simply type in any kind of command and select enter, like:

  • Write me a paragraph about the use of artificial intelligence in medicine
  • Write an outline for a blog post about purchasing certificates of deposit
  • Generate a 404 error message for when a user forgets to upload the document to the submission form
  • Compose a subject line for an email to a prospect client about why they should refinance their mortgage this month

Feeling stuck? Browse our Starter ideas menu for suggestions!

Can't remember what prompt you used before? Review the Recent prompts menu.

If your cursor is currently selecting a text field, Writer will display an Insert button. Selecting this button will add the generated content directly where you're working. Otherwise, you can select the Copy icon to copy the output to your clipboard.

If the output isn't quite right, select Regenerate and Writer will take another try at your prompt. You can review up to 25 previous versions of your prompt's output by selecting the <- or -> arrows at the bottom of the commands widget.


You can also select some or all of your output and select the Rewrite menu to simplify, shorten, polish, and more. (Read more about rewriting here.)


Managing Edge extension domains in Security

You can control org-wide settings for the Writer Edge extension in Admin Security. You will see "Writer for Chrome" however the settings here will also apply to the Writer Edge extention.

First, decide whether you'd like to trigger Writer for Edge on all websites, or whether you'd like to apply a set of rules to govern whether Writer should check content.


If you select Always enable Writer on all websites, no further configuration is needed. You're done!


Configuring default preferences

If you want to apply rules, start by selecting your default preference:

  • Don't check content - Writer for Edge will not be triggered unless a domain exception is configured below.
  • Always check content - Writer for Edge will always be triggered unless a domain exception is configured below.
  • Check content only if user opts in - We will display a popup when a page is opened, and Writer for Edge will only check content if the user selects Check now:


Note: Check content only if user opts in is currently available for docs.google.com only. Let us know if you'd like us to add support for a specific site!

Creating rules for specific URLs

Let Writer for Edge know whether to check content on specific websites. We will prioritize these rules over your default preference. If two rules conflict with each other, we will prioritize the rule listed first.


You can add rules for domains (https://writer.com), subdomains (https://support.writer.com/), or specific pages (https://support.writer.com/category/241-knowledge-graph.)


Using wildcards

Need to create a rule for URLs which might contain variables? We support the following wildcard rules:

Frequently asked questions

Q: If I configure user opt-in, will a popup appear every time the user opens a document?

If the user selects X on the popup, we won't show it again the next time the document is opened.

If the user selects Check now on the document, we won't show it again next time – we'll just automatically check the document.

If the user selects Don't check, we won't show it again next time – we won't check the document.

Q: If a user selected Don't check on a document but then wants to check it, how can they do this?

Select the Writer extension icon next to the Edge toolbar. The user can trigger Writer using the toggle.

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