MS Edge users report 'Open in' option greyed out and Copilot Rewrite issues

In recent weeks, Microsoft Edge users have been raising concerns about two prominent issues following the browser’s latest update: the ‘Open in new tab’ option being greyed out in the Favorites menu, and the Copilot Rewrite function becoming non-functional. These issues have affected several users, and disrupt the standard browsing experience and workflows dependent on Copilot’s AI features.

Favorites right-click options greyed out

One of the most commonly reported issues revolves around the Favorites toolbar in Edge. Users have discovered that when they attempt to right-click on a link in their Favorites sidebar, the options to “Open in new tab,” “Open in new window,” and “Open in new InPrivate window” are grayed out and unavailable for selection. This issue seems to have appeared suddenly for many, interrupting normal browsing sessions.

A user on Microsoft’s community forums shared their experience, stating, “During the middle of a browser session, there was a sudden change where if I right-click on a link in my Favorites sidebar, these three options were all grayed out. This was working fine initially.” Another user on Reddit speculated that a recent Edge update might have triggered the problem, as they noticed the pop-up for the update just before the issue occurred.

Many users have turned to workarounds, such as using keyboard shortcuts (CTRL + left click for a new tab, SHIFT + left click for a new window), but the sudden removal of the right-click functionality has led to speculation. Some users wonder whether this is a deliberate feature removal, while others hope it is simply a bug that Microsoft will soon fix. One Redditor commented, “No worries, it’s not a virus or your computer; Microsoft just removed that feature in the latest update for some stupid reason.” However, there has been no official confirmation on whether this change was intentional or a temporary glitch.

Copilot Rewrite function fails to work

In addition to the Favorites menu issue, users are also facing problems with the Copilot Rewrite (Alt+I) function, a tool that allows them to rewrite text with the assistance of Microsoft’s AI-powered Copilot. Users have reported that this feature is missing or disabled, leaving them unable to access the rewriting capabilities they relied on.

In a community discussion, one user noted, “As of September 17 onwards, the Rewrite with Copilot (Alt+I) feature is not available. Is there any issue with Microsoft Copilot?” Another forum member confirmed that the problem persisted even after trying different troubleshooting steps, such as checking for updates and restarting the browser.

The integration of Copilot in Microsoft Edge has been particularly useful for productivity, especially for users looking to improve or rephrase content on the fly. Therefore, the disappearance of this function has caused significant disruptions.

Microsoft’s response and expected fixes

Although the official support channels have not yet confirmed a widespread bug, an independent advisor in the Microsoft forums suggested that users create a new Edge profile to see if the issue persists. The advisor also recommended submitting feedback via Alt+Shift+I to alert developers of the problem.

Regarding the Copilot Rewrite problem, Microsoft’s response hints at a larger backend update tied to enterprise-level data protection standards. This change could explain why some features, like Copilot Rewrite, were pulled from the Edge browser temporarily. According to a volunteer moderator on the Microsoft forums, “We’re updating Copilot from ‘Commercial Data Protection’ to full ‘Enterprise Data Protection.’ During the switchover, we had to pull a couple of Edge integration features while we update them as well.”

That said, we’ll keep an eye out for any further developments on both issues and will post an update if there’s something worth sharing. In the meantime, you could try out MS Edge beta to see if the issues persist there too.