Windows 11 continues to impress with its series of recent updates, the Photos app, including notable integration with the Designer web app, a tool developed by Microsoft. This allows users to create professional-looking graphics right from the comfort of the Photos app. However, this new feature comes with a catch: it requires the use of the Microsoft Edge browser, installed by default with Windows 11, to access Designer.
Microsoft has added a variety of new features to the Photos app over the past 2 years, such as background blur, an AI magic eraser, and more. The new "Edit in Microsoft Designer" option is represented by a visible icon in the middle of the Photos preview window. This is not only a useful addition, but also a clear strategy on the part of Microsoft to encourage the use of Edge, which is not the most popular web browser.
Windows 11's new feature is still in testing, available in Photos app version 2024.11040.16001.0, part of the Windows 11 24H2 preview build in the Canary channel. It should also be available in the Windows 11 Insider Dev channel, assuming the Photos app version is updated to 2024.11040.16001.0.
Windows 11 has new CHANGES from Microsoft, why they are criticized
Users can open the Designer web app by right-clicking an image in Preview in the Photos app and selecting "Edit in Designer online" from the menu that appears. However, in our tests of Windows Latest, we encountered a major problem: instead of displaying the image selected for editing, a blank canvas appeared. It is hoped that this is only a temporary anomaly and Microsoft will fix this bug in a future Windows update.
Windows 11 allows users to manually import the image into the Designer web app, even though this process defeats the original purpose of having an easily accessible option in the Photos app. To edit in Designer, users must be signed in to their Microsoft account, according to information provided by Microsoft in an official post on the Windows blogs.
Windows 11 has this approach criticized, however, because it makes it more difficult to access unified image editing tools from a single program. As Microsoft tries to promote its new AI-based tools, it would better serve users' interests by simplifying access to these resources in a single package integrated into Windows 11.
