M365 Changelog: New browser usage reports available to support your organization’s migration to Microsoft Edge

MC244044 – Coming soon, IT admins will be able to view Microsoft browser usage, alongside other Microsoft products like SharePoint and OneDrive, on the usage dashboard of the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. This new report will allow IT admins to see browser usage trends, in response to the retirement milestone for Microsoft Edge Legacy (March 9, 2021).

With the retirement announcement and migration planning, we received requests for a browser usage reporting tool that would allow IT admins to see Microsoft Edge Legacy usage and progress on migration to the new Microsoft Edge browser. The Microsoft browser usage report will allow IT admins the option of accessing browser usage data for their organization.

When will this happen?

Report rollout will begin on March 10, 2021. Over the following weeks, data will be populated and become visible to customers.

How this will affect your organization:

This report is an optional tool for IT admins to consider using to help with their organization’s migration to the new Microsoft Edge and will not have any effect on end users.

How organizations may use this report:

• For organizations still using Microsoft Edge Legacy. IT admins can identify Microsoft Edge Legacy browser usage and plan migration steps for your organization. As a reminder, support ended on March 9, 2021 and Microsoft Edge Legacy will no longer receive security updates. Users of Microsoft Edge Legacy should be migrated to the new Microsoft Edge, which is the most secure browser for Windows 10. In addition, the new Microsoft Edge will replace Microsoft Edge Legacy with April’s Windows 10 Update.
• For organizations still using Internet Explorer. IT admins can identify Internet Explorer usage and plan migration steps for your organization. As a reminder, Microsoft 365 apps and services end support on Internet Explorer 11 after August 17, 2021. Users will experience a degraded feature experience or be unable to connect to Microsoft 365 apps and services. After August 17, 2021, Microsoft 365 apps and services will need to be accessed via the new Microsoft Edge, another supported browser, or through an applicable Win-32 app (if available). If your organization has a dependency to use Internet Explorer for legacy sites, IT admins can configure sites on the enterprise mode site list to allow users to access these sites with IE mode in the new Microsoft Edge.
• For organizations that recently deployed the new Microsoft Edge or are planning to deploy. IT admins can now use the reports to see migration across Microsoft browsers (Microsoft Edge Legacy, Internet Explorer, and the new Microsoft Edge).

Data report limitations:

• The browser usage report only includes usage on Microsoft 365 online services accessed via Microsoft browsers. Please review the Microsoft 365 usage reports documentation for more information. By March 15, 2021, details on the Microsoft Browser usage report will be available on the documentation site.
• The report is internal to your organization with permissions limited to IT admins with existing access to the activity reports on the usage dashboard in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
  • Aggregate Microsoft browser usage and user level reporting is available. User level identification can be removed per your organization’s policies and role based access controls can be used to adjust report access.

What you need to do to prepare:

• Learn more about activity reports in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
• Learn more about Microsoft Edge for business.
• Learn how FastTrack can help with migration to Microsoft Edge.

We always value feedback and questions from our customers.