Why ruin Workspaces?

It was such a nice system. If its not going to come back, Im saying bye bye to the reversion mode and the best browser it was few days ago.

Today’s big companies have a mindset that would have led to their downfall in the past. But nowadays, it seems socially acceptable for companies like Microsoft to do whatever they want with us users—without any consequences. Features are introduced and then randomly disabled—without the users’ consent. Data disappears, and so on.
But MS isn't the only big company that acts so arbitrarily and constantly makes bad decisions.

MS would be better off focusing on making its systems more stable and finally implementing basic features that users have been demanding for decades.

How nice it would be, for example, to have a Windows Explorer where you could add tags and color-code folders. Instead, they’re annoying everyone with their Copilot.

I hope they have our workspaces saved somewhere and it will be possible to restore them.

This is the second time edge has deleted my stuff; first time they deleted my passwords.

The recent changes are part of a migration of Edge Workspaces from the original “v1” architecture to a new “v2” architecture that focuses on reliability and performance, but with a reduced feature set.

According to the current Edge release notes, Microsoft is:

1. Migrating saved Workspaces data from OneDrive/SharePoint to the Edge Sync service.
2. Removing the collaboration/share functionality from Workspaces.

This is explicitly called out in the Stable and Beta channel release notes:

• In Edge Stable 145, there is an “Upcoming migration to improved V2 architecture for Workspaces,” which:
  • Moves saved Workspace data storage from OneDrive/SharePoint to Edge Sync.
  • Removes collaboration/share functionality.
  • For organizations with Sync disabled by policy, existing v1 Workspace data is still migrated, but new v2 Workspaces created after migration will not sync across devices and will remain local to each device.
• In Edge Beta 145 and 146, the same migration is described, with the same two core changes and the same note that v2 Workspaces created after migration will be local-only when Sync is disabled.

From the privacy documentation for the original Workspaces implementation:

• v1 Workspaces stored workspace data in OneDrive/SharePoint and supported real-time sharing of tabs, favorites, and history with collaborators.
• Workspaces were explicitly positioned as a collaboration feature for enterprise customers signed in with Microsoft Entra ID.

The v2 architecture changes that:

• Storage backend: from OneDrive/SharePoint to Edge Sync service.
• Collaboration model: sharing and collaboration (inviting others, joining shared workspaces) are removed.
• Sync behavior: when Sync is disabled by policy, new v2 Workspaces are local-only.

The documentation in the provided context does not state a detailed product rationale for removing sharing/collaboration or tab locking, beyond the high-level goal of “improve reliability and performance” and the architectural move away from OneDrive/SharePoint to Edge Sync. It also notes that organizations could opt out of the v2 migration during the rollout of Edge Stable v145 by contacting Microsoft CSS before rollout began.

For feedback on these removals (sharing, collaboration, tab locking), the product team directs users to submit feedback directly from Edge. For Workspaces specifically, feedback can be given via the Like/Dislike controls in the Workspaces menu under the “Are you satisfied with Workspaces?” prompt.

References:

• User data and privacy in Microsoft Edge
• Microsoft Edge Workspaces
• Microsoft Edge release notes for Stable and Extended Stable Channels
• Release notes for Microsoft Edge Beta Channel
• Archived release notes for Microsoft Edge Stable Channel