Edge Workspaces Changed in 2026: What’s Gone and What Still Works

Microsoft Edge Workspaces received a major architectural change in 2026 that most users missed because it arrived quietly across several updates. If you use Workspaces to organize and share tab sets with others, some features you relied on are now gone. This guide explains what changed, what still works, and what to do if you are affected.

What Edge Workspaces Is (and Was)

Workspaces launched in Edge in 2022 as a way to create named groups of tabs you could save and return to later. Think of it like a named browser session. You could have a Workspace for a work project, another for personal research, and switch between them without losing your tab setup.

The feature had one standout differentiator: you could share a Workspace with other people, and everyone with access would see the same tabs in real time, synced through OneDrive or SharePoint. For small teams, this made Workspaces a lightweight collaboration tool, similar to a shared browser session.

What Changed: V2 Architecture Rollout

Microsoft began rolling out a new V2 architecture for Workspaces in Edge Stable version 145 (February 2026) and completed the migration through version 149 (June 2026). The changes are significant and permanent.

What Was Removed

• Collaboration and sharing are gone. You can no longer share a Workspace with another person. The feature that let teammates open the same live Workspace has been removed and will not return.
• Cross-device sync is removed when Sync is disabled. For organizations that have disabled Edge Sync through policy, V2 Workspaces created after migration will not sync across devices. They stay local to the device where they were created.
• OneDrive and SharePoint storage. Workspace data no longer lives in your OneDrive or SharePoint. It has been migrated to the Edge Sync service.

What Still Works

• Personal Workspaces still exist. You can still create Workspaces, save tab sets, and switch between them on the same device.
• Sync across your own devices still works if you are a personal user with Edge Sync turned on. Your Workspaces will sync between your own PC, Mac, and other devices signed in with the same Microsoft account.
• Existing V1 Workspace data was migrated. Microsoft migrated your old Workspace data from OneDrive to the Edge Sync service automatically. You should not have lost any existing Workspaces.

How to Check If Your Workspaces Migrated Correctly

After updating to Edge 149 or later, open your Workspaces panel and check that your existing Workspaces and their tabs are still there. The visual layout of Workspaces has not changed, so they should look the same.

If a Workspace is missing after the update, check the following:

1. Make sure Edge Sync is enabled. Go to Settings, then Profiles, then Sync, and confirm sync is turned on.
2. Sign out of your Microsoft account in Edge and sign back in to force a sync refresh.
3. Check Edge on another signed-in device to confirm whether the Workspace exists there.

How to Create and Use Workspaces in Edge Now

The steps to create a Workspace have not changed.

1. Click the Workspaces icon in the top-left area of the Edge toolbar (it looks like a colored circle or grid icon, depending on your Edge version).
2. Click New Workspace.
3. Give it a name and choose a color.
4. Open the tabs you want in that Workspace. They are saved automatically.
5. To switch between Workspaces, click the Workspaces icon and select one from the list.

If you do not see the Workspaces icon in your toolbar, go to Settings, then Appearance, then Toolbar, and make sure Workspaces is enabled.

What to Use Instead of Shared Workspaces

If you relied on the sharing feature, Microsoft has not provided a direct replacement inside Edge. Here are the most practical alternatives depending on your situation.

For Team Tab Sharing

The simplest replacement is a shared document with hyperlinks. Create a shared note in OneNote or a shared page in SharePoint with the URLs you want the team to access. It is less elegant but achieves the same end goal: everyone on the team can open the same set of pages.

For Sharing a Browsing Session

Microsoft Edge Drop (still available in the Sidebar) lets you send links, notes, and files to yourself across devices or to others. For quick one-off link sharing, this is faster than a shared document.

For Chrome Users Comparing Options

Chrome’s Tab Groups do not have cross-device sharing either, so this is not a regression from Chrome’s feature set. Chrome’s equivalent of personal Workspaces is Tab Groups with the “Save group” option, which syncs your named tab groups across devices when you are signed in to Chrome.

Impact for Organizations with Sync Disabled

If your organization manages Edge with Intune or Group Policy and has Edge Sync disabled, the V2 migration means any new Workspaces you create after the migration are local only. They will not appear on other managed devices. Your original Workspace data was still migrated from OneDrive to Edge Sync, but without Sync enabled, new V2 Workspaces cannot take advantage of it.

If this is a problem for your organization, contact Microsoft CSS before the rollout reaches your fleet, or evaluate whether enabling Edge Sync for Workspaces data specifically is feasible for your environment.

Good to Know

• The V2 migration started in Edge 145 and completed in Edge 149. If you are still on an older version, the migration will arrive when you update.
• Microsoft positioned the migration as a reliability and performance improvement. The new Edge Sync backend is faster and more stable than the OneDrive storage it replaced.
• Edge Workspaces are different from browser profiles. Profiles separate browsing data entirely (different history, passwords, and extensions). Workspaces are just named tab sets within one profile.

Workspaces still does its core job well: organizing your own tabs into named sessions you can switch between. The loss of sharing is a real step backward for anyone who used that feature, and Microsoft has not given any indication it will come back. For personal use, Workspaces in V2 is faster and more reliable than it was before.