How to Enable and Use Edge Bar in Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge's Edge Bar is a convenient feature that brings a variety of tools and content right to your desktop. This floating sidebar enhances multitasking by providing quick access to news feeds, weather updates, favorite websites, and more, all without the need to open the full browser.

What is Edge Bar?

The Edge Bar functions as a miniature version of the Microsoft Edge browser, residing on the right side of your screen. Unlike the standard News and Weather widget, the Edge Bar offers greater versatility. It can operate as an extension of the Edge browser or as an independent widget, delivering content even when the main browser window is closed.

This MSN and Bing-powered sidebar can be pinned or docked to your desktop, allowing you to effortlessly access your favorite websites, personalized news feeds, weather forecasts, stock information, and more without launching the full browser. The Edge Bar can be displayed as a permanently pinned sidebar, a resizable floating window on your desktop, a search-only bar, or minimized into a floating button.

With tailored news feeds and information based on your interests—such as sports, technology, gadgets, and markets—the Edge Bar keeps you informed. It also integrates quick access buttons for Outlook, LinkedIn, and Bing, enabling seamless transitions between these platforms.

How to enable Edge Bar in Windows 11 or Windows 10

To pin the Edge Bar to your screen or have it open automatically at startup, you need to enable it through the Edge browser settings. Follow these steps to activate the Edge Bar on your Windows 11 or Windows 10 computer.

Step 1: Launch Microsoft Edge on your computer. Click the three-dot menu (ellipsis) icon located at the top-right corner of the window, and select Settings from the drop-down menu.

Step 2: In the Settings page, select Edge bar from the left sidebar. On the right side, you'll find the Edge bar settings. Click on Open Edge bar to launch it.

Alternatively, you can access the Edge Bar by clicking the ellipsis icon (...) in Edge, navigating to More tools, and selecting Launch Edge bar.

Once activated, the Edge Bar will appear pinned to the right side of your screen. Open windows will adjust automatically to accommodate the Edge Bar's presence.

Step 3: To have the Edge Bar start automatically with your computer, return to the Edge bar settings in the Edge browser. Toggle on the option Automatically open Edge bar when the computer starts.

To close the Edge Bar, click the Close button located at the bottom-right corner of the Edge Bar.

Alternatively, you can click the Settings and more (gear) icon on the Edge Bar and choose Close.

You can also exit the Edge Bar by right-clicking its icon in the taskbar corner overflow area and selecting Quit.

How to personalize the Edge Bar feed

You can customize the content displayed in the Edge Bar feed by adding your interests and interacting with stories you like or dislike.

Step 1: To manage your interests, click the Settings and more (gear) icon on the Edge Bar and select Settings. Alternatively, in the Edge browser, click the ellipsis icon (...), choose Settings, and then select Edge bar.

Step 2: In the Edge bar settings, click on the Personalize button next to Personalize your Edge bar feed.

You can also access personalization options by clicking the Personalize (pencil) icon at the bottom of the Edge Bar.

This action opens the My Interests page on the MSN website, where you can add, remove, and manage the topics you're interested in. You'll find a variety of topics organized into different categories.

To add an interest to your feed, simply click on a topic that appeals to you.

To add a specific topic, use the search bar under Discover Interests to find your desired topic, then click on it to add it to your interests.

Your current interests are listed under the Followed interests section, where you can also remove any topics you no longer wish to follow.

To remove a topic, click on it under the Followed interests section.

Further personalization can be achieved by interacting with stories in your Edge Bar feed—like stories you enjoy, dislike ones you're not interested in, or block sources you don't want to see.

If you encounter a story you appreciate, click the ellipsis icon (...) at the bottom-right corner of the story and select More stories like this. This will prompt the Edge Bar to show more content similar to that story.

Conversely, if you come across a story you're not interested in, select Fewer stories like this to see less content of that type in the future.

To block stories from a specific source, click the ellipsis icon (...) on a story from that source and choose Hide stories from [Source Name].

Confirm by clicking Hide to remove stories from that source from your feed.

Your feed will update to exclude stories from the blocked source.

If you decide to unhide a source, return to the My Interests page via the Personalize button, and deselect the source under the Hidden sources section.

How to customize the Edge Bar

You can adjust various settings of the Edge Bar, such as changing the language, altering the widget mode, and enabling or disabling auto-hide.

To change the language of both the Edge Bar interface and news feed, click the Language icon at the bottom of the Edge Bar and select your preferred language from the list.

To enable auto-hide for the Edge Bar, click the Enable autohide button, located just below the Settings and more (gear) icon at the bottom-right corner.

When auto-hide is enabled, the Edge Bar minimizes to a slim vertical bar along the right edge of your screen. To expand it, click on any of the icons at the top of this bar, such as MSN, Bing, Outlook, or LinkedIn.

To turn off auto-hide, click the Disable autohide button at the bottom-right corner of the Edge Bar.

By default, the Edge Bar is pinned to the right side of your screen and remains visible across all windows and applications. If you choose to unpin it, the bar becomes a floating widget visible only on the desktop, and a floating button appears on other screens.

To pin or unpin the Edge Bar, click the pin/unpin toggle button located just above the minimize button at the bottom-right corner of the Edge Bar.

Upon unpinning, the Edge Bar minimizes to a small floating button displaying the Edge icon, along with a sticky floating window on the desktop. This button remains on your screen across all windows until you close the Edge Bar or restart your computer. Clicking the floating button brings up a resizable Edge Bar window.

Clicking elsewhere will hide the window, and you can access it again by clicking the floating button or from the desktop.

To switch or manage profiles in Edge, click the profile icon on the Edge Bar and choose a profile. For more options, select Profiles to open the profile settings in the Edge browser.

The Edge Bar offers three layout options:

Vertical layout
Search only layout
Floating button

By default, the Edge Bar uses the Vertical layout. To switch layouts, click the Settings and more (gear) icon and choose your preferred layout.

Search only layout

The Search only layout transforms the Edge Bar into a streamlined search interface featuring a Bing-powered search field, a profile button, rewards, settings, and a close button. This movable search bar remains on your desktop.

Type your search query into the field and press Enter. The search results will open in a new Microsoft Edge browser window.

Floating button

To toggle the floating button, click the Settings and more icon and select Enable floating button.

With the floating button enabled, a small button appears above the taskbar corner whenever the Edge Bar is minimized or unpinned. This button stays visible across all screens until you close the Edge Bar. Clicking it opens a resizable Edge Bar window.

How to use the Edge Bar

The Edge Bar is user-friendly and straightforward. By default, it displays information like weather, stocks, current events, traffic updates, and top stories. After personalizing your feed, you'll receive updates tailored to your interests alongside these default items. Clicking on a news story will open it on the MSN website in the full Edge browser.

The top of the Edge Bar features four tabs: MSN (for news and updates), Bing (search engine), Outlook, and LinkedIn. These tabs allow you to seamlessly switch between browsing news, searching the web, checking your email, and networking on LinkedIn—all without leaving the Edge Bar.

At the bottom, you'll find Refresh and See more buttons. Use Refresh to update your feed, and See more to view the full feed on the MSN website in the Edge browser.

To perform a web search, type your query or a website URL into the search field at the top and press Enter. Currently, the Edge Bar uses Bing as its default search engine and does not support changing it.

The Edge Bar functions as a mini browser. When you conduct a search, results appear within the bar, similar to a full browser. You can scroll through the results and select a website to open it directly in the Edge Bar.

Websites with responsive design will automatically adjust to fit within the Edge Bar window.

Navigate between pages using the Back and Forward buttons.

Additional controls include Home, Refresh, and Open in browser buttons. Click Home to return to the Edge Bar's main screen.

To open the current page in the full Edge browser, click the Open in browser button.

To save a story for future reference, click Save for later. You can access saved items under the My Saves section of your MSN profile.

Adding a new tab to the Edge Bar

You can permanently add your favorite websites to the Edge Bar by adding new tabs. This allows quick access to sites like sports updates or stock information directly from the Edge Bar.

To add a website, click the Add tab button located below the LinkedIn icon. Enter the website's URL and a Name for the tab in the provided fields, then click Add.