Microsoft has been relaunching its browser, which first started with the EDGE HTML rendering engine and now Chromium. While Internet Explorer is still there on Windows 10, Edge HTML will be called Edge Legacy, the new Chromium-based Edge Browser will soon be delivered through Windows Update. This post offers you some cool Edge Browser Chromium Tips and Tricks that will help you get the best of this new web browser and its features in Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Microsoft Edge Browser Tips & Tricks
Here are some tips and tricks that will help you get the best out of the new Microsoft Edge Chromium browser on Windows 11/10:
- Enable Dark Mode
- Force Dark Mode for Web Contents
- Change default search
- Customize Edge New tab page
- Customize Edge Browser
- Set Multiple Homepages
- Manage passwords & autofill
- Add a Home button
- Import favorites, passwords, history into Edge
- Show the Favorites bar
- Auto-Hide the address bar
- Make a Web Note
- Pin Edge Browser website shortcut to Taskbar
- F12 Developer Tools
- Open the web page in IE & Edge Legacy
- Install Chrome Extensions and Themes in Edge
- Enable and manage Data Sync in Edge Chromium
- Change default download location of Edge Chromium
- Edge keyboard shortcuts
- Use a custom image option for New Tab Page in Edge
- Take a scrolling screenshot of the webpage
- Enable and use Command Palette
- Use Math Solver
- Remove Duplicate Favorites
You can quickly access the Edge Chromium Settings either by using “edge://settings/” in the URL or click on the three dots and then click on settings. I have also highlighted the direct path for each of the settings for quicker access.
1] Enable Dark Mode
The default is set to the light theme, but you can change it to Dark or use System mode. The latter will automatically enable dark mode when you use Dark Mode in Windows 10.
- Go to Settings > Appearance > Theme (edge://settings/appearance)
- Click on the dropdown, and choose Dark.
- It will instantly enable Dark mode without a restart.
Read: How to enable or disable Audio, Video, and Screen Capture in Edge.
2] Force Dark Mode for Web Contents
If you want to force websites to become dark, you can force it using a flag—Force Dark Mode for Web Contents. It works on Chrome as well because of the Chromium Engine.
- Use edge://flags to open the settings.
- Search Force Dark Mode for Web Contents
- When you find it, enable it using the dropdown
- Restart browser.
You should know that when you force a website to change, it is possible that some of the text will not be visible to you. Chromium Engine offers different ways to force dark mode. Experiment with them to find what works for you. There are various ways like HSL, RGB, and so on.
Read: How to lock the Edge or Chrome browser with a password.
3] Change default search
The default search engine in Edge Chromium is going to be Bing, but you can always change it. You can choose to create custom search engines to search on websites directly.
- Go to Settings > Privacy and services. Scroll down to find address bar (edge://settings/search)
- Under Search engine used in the address bar, click on the dropdown to change from Bing to Google.
Now every time you type on the address bar, it will search on Google. If there is another search engine you want to add, click on Manage Search Engines, and you can add based on some parameters.
You can include Google or any other search engine in the list of Edge browser. Our post on how to change Default Search to Google in Edge offers step-by-step instructions in this regard.
Read: How to find those parameters and add them.
4] Customize New Tab or Home Page
Every time you open Edge Chromium, you should see a new wallpaper as a background. It’s a signature feature of Edge that has been there for long. You get a search bar, background image, and a bunch of recently visited pages in the form of aligned boxes.
The New tab page in the Edge browser now features 4 new modes. This helps you customize the experience to fit your preferences. See ‘Change New Tab Page layout in Edge‘ to know the complete procedure.
You can change this layout by clicking on the cog icon on the right.
Apart from this, you also have On Startup option (edge://settings/onStartup), where you can choose open a new tab or Continue where you left off and open a specific page every time.
Read: How to block a website in Microsoft Edge.
5] Customize Edge Browser
Edge offers some customization options. Visit this page if you would like to customize the Edge browser.
6] Set Multiple Homepages
A home page is the main page of a website where visitors can find hyperlinks to other pages on the site. Also, it is a web address that opens automatically when you launch the web browser. Here, you can set your favorite website, blog or search engine as your home page or you can set a blank page too. Like all web browsers, the new Edge too, lets you configure multiple homepages. Just access ‘Settings and more‘ menu > ‘Settings’ > ‘On startup‘ > ‘Open a specific page or pages‘ > ‘Add a new page‘.
Then, enter the URL of the homepage and you are good to go!
TIP: You can edit an Image using built-in Image Editor Tool of Microsoft Edge
7] Manage Passwords and AutoFill
Just like Chrome and Firefox, Microsoft Edge Chromium offers its inbuilt password manager that can sync across devices. Edge is also available on Android and iPhone.
- Navigate to Settings > Profiles and click on Passwords (edge://settings/passwords)
- Here you can search for saved passwords, export passwords, view, and delete them. There is no way to edit.
- If you do not want to use this feature or secure it, you can
- Toggle off option where Edge asks to save passwords. It will also disable autofill.
- Turn off the option to Sign-in automatically.
When you turn off sign-in, you will have to enter the password every time you use the password manager to sign in.
You can do away with the requirement of saving passwords manually! The process can be simplified by enabling the Form-fill option. This feature configures your browser to fill the web forms, automatically. Refer to our earlier post – Manage Passwords and Form-Fill.
8] Add a Home button
The home button in a browser is a legacy thing which used to take the user back to a new tab and open it as it has been set. It is like the house icon next to the address bar.
The Home button represents a physical button that aids the navigation by taking users directly to the Home screen (starting point of the site). It is turned off by default in Edge Chromium but you can add it anytime. See this post for more details – add a Home button.
- Go to Settings > Appearance (edge://settings/appearance)
- Toggle on Show Home Button
- Set if you want to open a new Tab page or a URL.
9] Import favorites, passwords, history into Microsoft Edge Chromium
If you are planning to use Edge over any other browser, it would be a good idea to import settings, etc. from the old browser. The Import Feature works with Microsoft Edge (Legacy), Chrome, Firefox, and more.
- Go to Settings > Profile > Import Browser Data (edge://settings/importData)
- Select the browser from the dropdown, and select what you want to import.
- You can import favorites, saved passwords, search engines, browsing history, and Home Page.
TIP: You can also use enable and use Password Monitor.
10] Show the Favorites bar
- Click on the three-dot menu next to the profile icon.
- Navigate to Favorites > Show Favorite Bar or use Ctrl + Shift + B
- You can choose between Always, Never, or Only on new tabs. The later is useful if you do not want to access favorites from each tab.
In Edge Chromium, you have a better way to access favorites—Favorites Button. It appears at the end, and outside of the address bar. When you click on it, it will reveal all the bookmarked pages and folders. It is better to use the button as it is less intrusive.
11] Auto-Hide the address bar
Press F11 to go full-screen. The Edge address bar will auto-hide. To make it appear, simply move the mouse to the top edge.
There’s more! You might take interest in checking out some of the features of the Edge browser so that you are completely familiar with all the features of the web browser. It talks about how to Delete browsing history and cache, Share web pages, use Reading View, create Reading List, use the built-in PDF Reader, the Hub, Sync Support, Page Prediction feature, support for Dolby Audio and more. There are also some new security features in Edge you may want to take a look at. Having done this, you might want to also take a look at and configure
12] Make a Web Note
Edge is the only browser available to date that allows you to annotate a web page right on the screen and then save your markings as notes. It lets you take notes, write, highlight directly on web pages or scribble on the web. To check this, open a PDF file with Edge and you’ll see the ‘Draw‘ option below the address bar that will allow you to create WebNotes, readily.
13] Pin Edge Browser website shortcut to Taskbar
The earlier version of Edge allowed adding websites to the Start Menu. That’s not possible with the Chromium version. Instead, you can choose to Pin websites shortcut to Taskbar.
- Open the website you want to pin to Taskbar
- Click on the ellipse menu (three dots) > More tools > Pin to Taskbar
- You should see the Favicon of the website on the taskbar
Interesting to note that all these pinned websites are treated as Apps and are available under Menu > Apps > Manage Apps (edge://apps/)
14] F12 Developer Tools
n case you are interested in developing add-ons for Microsoft Edge, you might want to know about developer tools provided by Microsoft.
Click on Menu More Tools and then click on Developer Tools. You can use Ctrl + Shift + I to open it quickly.
This will automatically launch the tools undocked. As a Developer, you might be excited to use the Network tools. Use them to change User-Agent, Mode, Display, Geolocation too.
15] Open the web page in IE & Edge Legacy
If you still need to use IE for some of the websites and applications, follow this method for IE. When it comes to Edge HTML or Edge Legacy, you need to enable it manually. Once done, follow the same steps we have asked for IE.
16] Install Chrome Extensions in Edge
Since Microsoft Edge is now based on Chromium, it supports most of the Chrome extensions. You can now install extensions in Edge from outside Microsoft Store to enhance your web browsing experience. You can also install extensions from the Chrome Store.
When you visit the Chrome Extension Webstore, Edge will prompt that you can install the extension from here or any third party website. Click on Allow to enable extensions from other stores. You can also install Chrome Themes.
Related: How to manage, add, remove Extensions in new Microsoft Edge browser
17] Enable and manage Data Sync in Edge Chromium
Just like Firefox and Chrome, you can sync data, profile, extensions, and passwords across browser instances. If you use Edge on multiple computers, you can sync data between them. You will have to enable it manually, so follow our guide. It is my favorite of our Edge Chromium Tips Tricks, and I am sure if you love using Edge, you will like it too.
TIP: if you middle-click the Back and Forward buttons, this action will open the site in a new tab.
18] Change default download location of Edge Chromium
It is best to set the download location separate from the default download folder if you download a lot of things at one place.
19] Edge keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are something that every browser supports. Microsoft’s browser is no exception to this rule. You can use these shortcuts to fasten your navigation process. For example, you can bookmark a website by simply hitting CTRL+D keys in combination and choose a folder to save the bookmark. See the complete list of these browser keyboard shortcuts.
20] Use Custom image option for New Tab Page in Edge
- Launch Edge
- Open New tab page
- Click on Page Settings > Page Layout
- Click on Custom> Background > Your own image
- Select Upload and select your Picture you want to be displayed
- Save and restart Edge.
21] Take a scrolling screenshot of the webpage
You can take a scrolling screenshot of the webpage you are viewing. Press CTRL+Shift+S in Edge. Then use the pointer to select the entire webpage – even the part that is below the fold.
22] Enable and use Command Palette
Command Palette feature in Edge browser (version 105 and higher) lets you perform actions that you may need in day-to-day browsing. For example, this feature lets you clear browsing data, toggle developer tools, move a tab backward, bookmark all tabs, and lots more from a single panel. Here is how to enable and use Command Palette in Microsoft Edge:
- Type
edge://flagsin the address bar of Microsoft Edge and press Enter - On the Flags page (Experiments), there is a Command Palette setting
- Select the Enabled option for that setting using the drop-down menu
- Restart Microsoft Edge.
After enabling Command Palette, use the Ctrl+Shift+Space shortcut key to open the Command Palette panel. Type some keyboards in the text box and related actions will be visible.
23] Use Math Solver
Math Solver is one of the interesting features of Microsoft Edge. It helps to solve Math problems (Calculus, Arithmetic, Trigonometry, Quadratic equations, etc.) with step-by-step explanations.
To enable the Math Solver feature in Microsoft Edge:
- Access the Appearance category of Microsoft Edge Settings
- There, turn on the Math Solver button.
Math Solver icon will appear on the Microsoft Edge toolbar. You can click that icon and then use the Math Solver feature in Microsoft Edge.
24] Remove Duplicate Favorites
You may have imported a lot of favorites from other browsers as well as created many bookmarks over the period of time in Microsoft Edge. And, some of those favorites might be duplicated. Thankfully, Microsoft Edge comes with a built-in option to remove duplicate favorites from a profile with the same URL and name.
For this, open the Edge browser and access a user profile. Press Ctrl+Shift+O hotkey to open the Favorites menu. There, click on the More options icon, select the Remove duplicate favorites option, and complete the process.
Also read: 10 Work from Home extensions for Microsoft Edge browser.
There’s more! You might take interest in checking out some of the features of the Edge browser so that you are completely familiar with all the features of the web browser. It talks about how to Delete browsing history and cache, Share web pages, use Reading View, create Reading List, use the built-in PDF Reader, the Hub, Sync Support, Page Prediction feature, support for Dolby Audio and more. There are also some new security features in Edge you may want to take a look at.
I hope these tips and tricks for Microsoft Edge Chromium come in handy for you. we have also covered Edge Browser Tips and Tricks for Android & iOS.
Is Microsoft Edge better in Windows 11?
The answer is a Yes. Microsoft Edge is definitely better in Windows 11 as well as Windows 10. Ever since it is based on Chromium, many interesting features came into existence. There are so many features such as vertical tabs, Web capture, voice typing, security settings, family safety, sleeping tabs, efficiency mode, etc., that provide a better user experience.
How can I make Edge faster in Windows 11?
There are some tweaks for Microsoft Edge that can make it faster. Startup Boost is a feature in Microsoft Edge that makes it launch faster than usual. You can enable it in Edge Settings. Installing more extensions can also slow down a browser. Uninstall or disable unnecessary extensions from Edge. You can also optimize your new tab experience to make Edge faster.
If you liked this post, you might want to check out Windows 10 as well as Windows 11 Tips and Tricks too. Chrome users may want to take a look at this Google Chrome tips & tricks post and Firefox users, this Firefox tips & tricks post.
