Cloud Site List Management for IE Mode Enters Public Preview

As part of Microsoft’s flurry of announcements out of Ignite November 2021, a new feature to assist IT Pros with their transition from Internet Explorer (IE) to Microsoft Edge, called Cloud Site List Management, is coming to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. (What else are they going to add to this portal?!)

Cloud Site List Management, now entering public preview, is a new, cloud-based interface to keep track of the important and vital websites and web apps in your organization. This is a boon to IT pros in terms of ease of use and the ability to publish these lists for multiple installation methods.

What is Cloud Site List Management?

As you transition your workflows and applications from IE11 to IE Mode (in Microsoft Edge), Cloud Site List Management lets you manage your site lists in the cloud, behind an authenticated portal – the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Being able to store your site lists in a compliant cloud location instead of needing on-premises infrastructure, allows more flexibility and efficiency in maintaining this ever-important feature.

Cloud Site List Management Prerequisites

The following prerequisites apply during the public preview phase:

1. Customers must have an Azure AD tenant.
2. Admins must have Microsoft Edge version 93 or greater installed and the latest version of the Edge policy files.
3. Admins need to be an Edge Administrator or a Global Administrator on the tenant to access the Microsoft Edge site lists experience.
   1. To opt in to the public preview, a Global Administrator is required to opt the tenant into Targeted release. For more information, see Opt into public preview.

The Cloud Site List Management preview experience

Publish enterprise site list to the cloud

Admins can publish one or more site lists to an authenticated endpoint that Microsoft Edge clients within their tenant can download for the IE mode experience. Admins can import the existing enterprise site list XML into the Microsoft Edge Site Lists experience in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center and then publish it to the cloud location.

Associate the cloud-hosted site list with Microsoft Edge

With Microsoft Edge version 93, admins can use the InternetExplorerIntegrationCloudSiteList setting to configure one of the cloud-hosted site lists that Microsoft Edge can consume for IE mode. Users must be signed in to Microsoft Edge for the client to consume the site list from the cloud.

Manage site list contents on the Microsoft 365 Admin Center

Admins can create a new list or import an existing site list into the Microsoft Edge site lists experience. They can add, edit, delete site list contents, and view comment history to track changes to individual entries. The next section explains how to opt in to public preview and access the Microsoft Edge site lists experience in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

Here is an example of how to publish a Site List after it’s been created and populated with your website addresses.

To Learn More about Cloud Site List Management for Microsoft Edge in IE Mode

Please watch this video to watch an overview of how this new Cloud Site List Management portal works and how you can gain value and save time with publishing your site lists to your users!