Microsoft Edge is giving users another reason to ditch Chrome by adding some much-needed upgrades to its built-in PDF reader.

According to Windows Latest, a number of experimental features have been discovered in early access builds of the Edge browser. These features could make the browser's PDF reader more capable and provide extra incentive to actually use it.

One feature that Microsoft has already announced is a completely new search function in Edge's PDF reader; many features were lost when Edge moved to Chromium, but are now slowly being regained. This includes improved search functionality and touch support.

However, these were announced in January and are fairly basic in the grand scheme of things. These new features are something different, including an option to automatically pick up where you left off. Because there is nothing worse than having to leave a document that is dozens of pages long and then having to manually look up where you were before.

Besides, Microsoft seems to be making it easier to scroll through PDF documents at high speed. To that end, improvements have been made to eliminate visual glitches in the process, and there is an optional sidebar that allows users to select pages based on thumbnails.

Changes have also been made to the way Edge highlights PDF text. This means that the experience varies depending on the document you are using, but this update should resolve this issue. The highlighting process should also be smoother

Finally, Edge appears to be adding the ability to verify signatures. This means that documents will be able to be digitally signed within the browser without having to rely on Adobe Acrobat or other third-party software.

While each of these features is relatively small on its own, together they indicate that Microsoft is putting a lot of effort into making Edge better able to handle PDF files in the future. However, it is unclear when these features will actually make it into the stable build of Edge.

It is also unclear whether these features will be offered all at once or gradually. In any case, these features are available in the current Canary build and will not have to wait very long.