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How to Use the Edge Bar in Microsoft Edge on Windows 11

Quick Tips
  • The Edge bar is a customizable widget that allows you to make quick Bing searches, fetch news, get weather updates, access your favorite websites, and more.
  • You can configure the Edge bar to start automatically when your computer starts.
  • Use the Edge bar settings menu to change which news and stories appear on your feed.

How to Enable Edge Bar in Microsoft Edge

Step 1: Launch Microsoft Edge on your PC > click the three-dot menu icon at the top right > select Settings.

Open Settings on Edge

Step 2: Use the left pane to navigate to the Edge bar tab. On your right, toggle on Automatically open Edge bar when the computer starts.

Enable Edge Bar on Windows 11

That’s about it. The Edge bar will launch automatically every time your PC boots.

If you don’t intend to open the Edge bar at startup, open the Edge bar manually. To do so, open Microsoft Edge > click the three-dot menu icon at the top right > select More tools > Launch Edge bar.

Launch Edge bar

How to Use the Edge Bar on Windows 11

In the Edge bar, you can use the search box at the top to make a Bing search or visit a website. Visiting a website in the Edge bar feels like using a mini browser. You can use the buttons at the bottom to move backward, forward, visit the homepage, or refresh the webpage.

Edge Bar Browser

By default, the Edge bar shows you four different tabs: MSN (Microsoft Network), Bing, Outlook, and LinkedIn. However, you can add more tabs by clicking the plus icon. Similarly, to delete a tab, right-click on it and select Remove.

Add Tabs Edge Bar

To close the Edge bar, click the cross icon at the bottom-right corner. Alternatively, you can minimize the Edge bar by clicking the long dash icon.

Close Edge Bar

How to Customize the Edge Bar on Windows 11

The Edge bar also offers a few customization options to enhance your experience. Here’s how to use them.

Hide or Unhide Edge Bar

By default, Windows automatically pins the Edge bar to the screen’s right. However, you can use the autohide option to minimize the Edge bar when not in use. Note that it will not hide the Edge bar completely; instead, you’ll see a thin vertical Edge bar on your right.

Auto Hide Edge Bar

Pin or Unpin Edge Bar

If you don’t like the idea of the Edge bar occupying a part of the screen all the time, unpin the Edge bar window and move it around.

Unpin Edge bar

Further, you can turn the Edge bar window into a floating button when you’re not using it. To do so, click the gear icon and select Enable floating button. You can then place the floating button anywhere along the edge of the screen.

Enable Floating Edge Bar Button

Change Edge Bar Layout

The Edge bar lets you switch between a couple of different layout options. You can use the Vertical layout (default option) or Seach only layout that resembles Mac’s spotlight search.

To change the Edge bar’s layout, click the gear icon and select your preferred layout.

Edge Bar Layouts

Personalize Edge Bar Feed

Don’t like what you see in your Edge bar feed? Don’t worry. You can personalize your Edge bar feed to define what news, updates, and sources you’d like to see in your feed. Here’s how.

Step 1: Open Edge bar and click the gear icon.

Step 2: In the browser window that opens, click Personalize.

Personalize Edge Bar Feed

Step 3: Under My Interest, explore various topics and mark the ones you’d like to follow.

My Interests Tab in Edge

Similarly, you can also define your interest by liking or disliking a story from the news feed. Click on the three-dot menu icon on the story card to select More stories like this or Fewer stories like this. You can also hide stories from a particular website from here.

Like or Dislike Stories on Feed

If you’d like to see your Edge bar feed in a different language, click on the translate icon and use the drop-down menu to select a language for it.

Change Edge Bar Language

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Last updated on 29 July, 2024

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