How to Customize Microsoft Edge Browser?

There are several things you can customize on your Microsoft Edge browser to make it look and perform the way you want. This may including changing the browser appearance, creating shortcuts, decide what loads when you open a new tab among other things to make your browsing sessions faster and more personal. Below we will take you through how you can customize your Edge browser for the best browsing experience.

Related: Microsoft Edge Vs Google Chrome.

How to Customize Microsoft Edge Browser?

1. Change Edge theme
2. Customize new tab page
3. Change startup page
4. Customize suggested content
5. Change download location
6. Customize Edge taskbar

1. Changing the Edge Browser Theme

Windows 10 allows you to choose dark theme. Besides that Edge has also two themes, “light” and “dark” which you can switch depending on your taste. To switch themes in Edge browser;

• Launch Edge on your desktop.
• Click on the “Settings and more” icon at the top-right corner of the Edge browser and select “Settings”.

• In the “General > Customize” section, under “Choose a theme” and choose either the “Light” or “Dark” theme.

2. Customize New Tab Page

You can control what opens when you open a new tab on Microsoft Edge. To do so;

• Open the Edge browser on your computer and click on the “Settings and more” button located at the top of the screen on the right side.
• From the menu option, select Settings.
• Click the down arrow under “Open new tabs with”.

• Depending on what you want to load on new tabs choose between:
  • Blank page – this will display a blank page with only the address bar.
  • Top sites – this will load a page with shortcuts to your most visited sites. You can add a top site by clicking on the “+” on a blank box.
  • Top sites and suggested content – this option will display your top sites and the local news depending on your region settings.

Related: Remove thumbnails from Chrome new tab page.

3. Customizing Edge Startup Page

Another way to personalize your browsing in Microsoft Edge is having a control of which page open whenever you launch the browser.

• Open the browser and from the “Settings and more” button select “Settings”.
• On the “General” settings panel, click on the down-arrow under “Open Microsoft Edge with” section.

• You can choose:
  • Start page – to display a feed with top news and local weather.
  • New tab page – this will open a new tab depending on your settings in option 2 above.
  • Previous pages – this will restore pages from your previous browsing session.
  • A specific page or pages – you have the freedom to add your favorite page(s) to open when you launch the browser.
• To add your favorite page(s), select the “A specific page or pages” option.
• This will open a text box. Type the page URL and click the “Save” button on the right.

• To add more pages click on “Add new page” and repeat the above step.

4. Customize Suggested Content

If you have selected “Top sites and suggested content” in option 2 above, you can increase your browsing productivity by personalizing suggested content on Edge.

• Open Edge browser on your PC and open a new tab by pressing “Ctrl + T” on your keyboard or clicking the “+” at the top of the browser window, just above the address bar.
• On the right of the tab content above the top-site shortcuts, click the gear-like “Hide Feed” icon.

• Set your preferred language and toggle on or off the “Information cards” switch.

• Choose your favorite topics such as Money, Sports and so on and then and click the “Save” button.

Related: How to customize Mozilla Firefox?

5. Personalizing Downloaded Files Location

You can specify the specific location on your computer where you want to save your downloaded files. To do so,

• Open your Edge browser and click on the “Settings and more” icon and then select “Settings” from the menu options.
• On the “General” settings panel, scroll down to the “Download” section.
• Under “Choose where to save” heading, click “Change”.

• Browse your preferred location from the resulting window and click “Select folder” button.

• You can also set the browser to always ask you where to save each download by turning on the “Ask me what to do with each download” switch.

6. Customize Edge Taskbar

You can show or hide items on the browser taskbar section.

• To hide or show the “Home” button, go to setting and under the “General settings” category, scroll down to “Show the home button”, switch on or off the toggle button.
• To hide or show the favorite toolbar, toggle on or off the switch under “Show the favorite bar” section.

Wrapping Up

In summary, you can make your Edge browser look and work your way with various customization settings. This will not only personalize your browsing experience but also improve your speed and productivity.