In fact, you can already download a development version of Microsoft Edge for Mac although it’s not the final release yet and may have many bugs. So hopefully, when Microsoft Edge is released for macOS, Mac users won’t need to find other ways of running IE on Mac. Until then, we hope one of these ways of running IE or Edge on Mac. Jan 24, 2020 Microsoft Edge is here for Windows 10 and MacOS. How to download the new browser now. Thanks to its new Chromium underpinnings, Microsoft's new Edge browser can now handle Chrome extensions on.
-->This article describes how to configure Microsoft Edge on macOS using a property list (.plist) file. You'll learn how to create this file and then deploy it to Microsoft Intune.
For more information, see About Information Property List Files (Apple's website) and Custom payload settings.
Note
This article applies to Microsoft Edge version 77 or later.
Configure Microsoft Edge policies on macOS
The first step is to create your plist. You can create the plist file with any text editor or you can use Terminal to create the configuration profile. However, it's easier to create and edit a plist file using a tool that formats the XML code for you. Xcode is a free integrated development environment that you can get from one of the following locations:
For a list of supported policies and their preference key names, see Microsoft Edge browser policies reference. In the policy templates file, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft Edge Enterprise landing page, there's an example plist (itadminexample.plist) in the examples folder. The example file contains all supported data types that you can customize to define your policy settings.
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The next step after you create the contents of your plist, is to name it using the Microsoft Edge preference domain, com.microsoft.Edge. The name is case sensitive and should not include the channel you are targeting because it applies to all Microsoft Edge channels. The plist file name must be com.microsoft.Edge.plist.
Important
Starting with build 78.0.249.2, all Microsoft Edge channels on macOS read from the com.microsoft.Edge preference domain. All prior releases read from a channel specific domain, such as com.microsoft.Edge.Dev for Dev channel.
The last step is to deploy your plist to your users' Mac devices using your preferred MDM provider, such as Microsoft Intune. For instructions see Deploy your plist.
Create a configuration profile using Terminal
In Terminal, use the following command to create a plist for Microsoft Edge on your desktop with your preferred settings:
Convert the plist from binary to plain text format:
After converting the file verify that your policy data is correct and contains the settings you want for your configuration profile.
Note
Only key value pairs should be in the contents of the plist or xml file. Prior to uploading your file into Intune remove all the <plist> and <dict> values, and xml headers from your file. The file should only contain key value pairs.
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Deploy your plist
For Microsoft Intune create a new device configuration profile targeting the macOS platform and select the Preference file profile type. Target com.microsoft.Edge as the preference domain name and upload your plist. For more information see Add a property list file to macOS devices using Microsoft Intune.
For Jamf upload the .plist file as a Custom Settings payload.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Microsoft Edge be configured to use master preferences?
Yes, you can configure Microsoft Edge to use a master preferences file.
A master preferences file lets you configure default settings for a browser user profile when Microsoft Edge is deployed. You can also use a master preferences file to apply settings on computers that aren't managed by a device management system. These settings are applied to the user’s profile the first time the user runs the browser. After the user runs the browser, changes to the master preferences file aren’t applied. A user can change settings from the master preferences in the browser. If you want to make a setting mandatory or change a setting after the first run of the browser, you must use a policy.
A master preferences file lets you to customize many different settings and preferences for the browser, including those shared with other Chromium based browsers and specific to Microsoft Edge. Policy related preferences can be configured using the master preferences file. In cases where a policy is set and there’s a corresponding master preference set, the policy setting takes precedence.
Important
All the available preferences might not be consistent with Microsoft Edge terminology and naming conventions. There’s no guarantee that these preferences will continue to work as expected in future releases. Preferences might be changed or ignored in later versions.
A master preferences file is a text file that’s formatted using JSON markup. This file needs to be added to the same directory as the msedge.exe executable. For system wide enterprise deployments on macOS this is typically: “~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Microsoft Edge Master Preferences' or '/Library/Microsoft/Microsoft Edge Master Preferences”.