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August 30, 2019
PC

Update on removing Flash from Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer

Editor’s note (9/4/2020) – Microsoft is ending support for Adobe Flash Player on Microsoft Edge (both the new Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Edge Legacy) and Internet Explorer 11 at the end of 2020. You can find the latest update on this topic here: Update on Adobe Flash Player End of Support.

In 2017, we published a roadmap to remove Adobe Flash from Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer by 2020. Since that post, we announced our intent to build Microsoft Edge on the Chromium open source project. In this post, we will provide an update on what to expect for the Flash retirement in Microsoft browsers.

Here’s what you can expect for each Microsoft browser:

In the next version of Microsoft Edge (built on Chromium), we will continue to retire Flash in the same timeframe as other Chromium based browsers. You can learn more of that timeline in this blog post. Flash will initially be disabled, and the user will need to re-enable Flash on a site-by-site basis; Flash will be completely removed from the browser towards the end of 2020. Group policies are available for enterprise admins and IT pros to change the Flash behavior prior to that date.

For both the in-market version of Microsoft Edge (built on EdgeHTML) and Internet Explorer 11, the current experience will continue as-is through 2019. Specifically, we no longer intend to update either Microsoft Edge (built on EdgeHTML) or Internet Explorer 11 to disable Flash by default. We still plan to fully remove Flash from these browsers by December 2020, as originally communicated.

Colleen Williams, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Edge

[Updated to clarify the in-market EdgeHTML/IE experience – Ed.]