We all know the struggle of juggling multiple passwords. Reusing passwords is a big no-no, but remembering unique ones for each site? That’s a headache. Luckily, password managers are here to save the day! They handle the password remembering for us.
Most browsers these days come with a built-in password manager, which is super convenient for those who don’t want the hassle of installing a separate app. Microsoft Edge is one such browser with a very easy-to-use password manager.
How It Works?
Basically, when enabled, the password manager will prompt you to save your password whenever you log in or create an account on a new website. It can also generate strong, random passwords for those new accounts.
Once saved, the next time you visit that site, it’ll automatically fill in the password for you. This means you can use strong, different passwords for all your accounts without needing to memorize them all.
A common question is: Where does Edge save these passwords, and are they safe? Edge stores your passwords locally, encrypted on your hard drive. The encryption makes sure they are safe and can only be accessed when you’re logged into your system with your user password.
Edge also stores your passwords in the cloud (Microsoft’s servers), but only after they’re encrypted on your device. This way, your password is never unencrypted when it leaves your machine. In the cloud, your passwords are tied to your Microsoft account so you can access them across your devices if you’re syncing your passwords.
Saving Passwords Using the Password Manager
It’s super simple to use the built-in password manager in Edge, but you’ll need to turn it on in settings first.
To turn it on, click the “Settings and more” icon (the three dots) in the upper-right corner of your window.
Then, select “Settings” from the menu.
The Profile tab should open by default. Click on “Passwords” in the right pane.
Turn on the switch for “Offer to save passwords”.
Now, when you log in to a website (or sign up), Edge will ask if you want to save the password. Just click “Save” on the pop-up.
Method 1: Automatically Save Passwords from the Prompt
To make things even easier, you can set Edge to automatically save passwords without having to confirm each time. In the prompt, turn on the “Automatically save passwords” switch and click “Save & Turn On”.
Method 2: Automatically Save Passwords from Settings
Alternatively, you can enable automatic saving in the settings. Go to the “Passwords” section in settings, or just type edge://settings/passwords in the address bar and press Enter. Then, turn on the switch for “Automatically save passwords”.
Auto-Filling Your Saved Passwords
To have Edge automatically fill in your saved passwords, go to edge://settings/passwords and turn on the switch for “Autofill passwords”.
Now, when you go to a login page for a site where you saved a password, Edge will fill in your credentials automatically.
Having Edge automatically fill passwords can be a security risk, especially if you share your computer. Anyone could log in to a website with your saved credentials if they use your machine. To add another layer of security, you can make Edge ask for your system password or a custom password for authentication.
In the Passwords settings, click “More Settings” under “Autofill passwords” to expand that section.
Choose whether you want to authenticate using your “Device password” or a “Custom password” by clicking the corresponding radio button.
Then, from the drop-down menu, select if you want to authenticate “Once per browsing session” or “Always ask for permission”.
If you’re the only one who uses your computer, then authenticating using your device password is fine. But if you share your system with others, it’s better to use a custom password.
Keep in mind that a custom password is specific to each device. Even if you have sync on, the primary password will not sync between devices. You will have to set up a custom password for each device separately. Syncing is still useful if you forget your primary password, because there is no way to recover your passwords without it.
Editing Your Saved Passwords
If you change a password on a website and then log in to the website with the new password on Edge, the password manager will ask if you want to update it automatically. But if you missed that, you can edit it manually.
Go to the “Passwords” settings, find the password you want to edit, and click the three-dot menu on the right.
Click “Edit” from the menu.
If you have a custom primary password set, you will need to authenticate to access the password using it. If you don’t, you will need to authenticate using your device password to access it regardless of whether device authentication for autofill is turned on.
