The Drop feature coming to Microsoft Edge will allow you to share files between computer and phone

You can already use Microsoft’s Phone Link app to transfer files between your Windows PC / laptop and your Android smartphone (well, you can if you have a Galaxy phone). Now Microsoft is working on a way to share files between a wider selection of devices running Windows, Android, and even Mac.

This feature is called Drop and is currently being tested in the Edge browser’s Canary build. It will become one of the sidebar widgets, which add extra functionality to the browser.

Interestingly, instead of a file browser-like user interface, Microsoft has opted for something that looks like a messenger. You can send files with a drag and drop, but you can also send messages, which is useful if you want to leave a note on a particular file or send yourself a reminder.

There’s more you can do with Drop: Microsoft recently added the ability to take a screenshot and annotate it with basic editing tools. This can be used for even more elaborate notes and reminders.

Unlike Phone Link, Drop does not make local transfers. In reality, it’s just a front end for OneDrive – any files you send will upload to cloud storage (and take up space in your account). The benefit of using this directly instead of OneDrive is that the Drop interface is more convenient for those who already use Edge as their primary browser.

Another benefit is that once a file has been uploaded, it will be accessible from all devices that are signed into your Microsoft account. This makes it easy to share between multiple devices (desktop, laptop, phone, tablet, etc.).

If you want to try it before the stable version, you will need to download Edge Canary on Windows and Android.