How to customize launch and tab options in Edge for Windows 10

By Cale Hunt
last updated

How do I change what new tabs open with in Edge?

To help make Edge feel like your browser, you can customize what opens when you launch Edge, and you also customize what is shown when you create new tabs. Not only does this make your browser more personal, it can also boost productivity by removing the time it takes to get to sites you frequently visit.

Here's how to customize launch and tab options in Edge for Windows 10.

How to change what opens when you launch Edge

When you launch Edge, you can set it to open with a blank page, pages from your last browser session, and even specific pages you like to visit everyday. Here's how to change what happens when you launch Edge.

  1. Launch Edge from your Start menu, desktop, or taskbar.
  2. Click the More button — it is located near the top-right corner of the window and looks like ...
  3. Click Settings.

  1. Click the dropdown arrow beneath Open Microsoft Edge with.
  2. Click a launch option. You can choose from:
    • Start page: you'll be shown a feed with local weather and top news from around the world.
    • New tab page: a new tab will open.
    • Previous pages: pages from your previous session will be restored.
    • A specific page or pages: you can add a page or pages to open every time you launch Edge.

If you choose A specific page or pages as the Edge launch option, you can add a page or pages to open every time you launch Edge. Here's how to do it.

  1. Click the Enter a URL field.
  2. Type a URL.

  1. Click the Save button. It looks like a floppy disk and is located next to the URL field.
  2. Click the More button to close the menu.

How to add more than one website to open when you launch Edge

The page you added will now open each time you launch Edge. You can add more pages to the list if you aren't satisfied with the one page.

  1. Launch Edge from your Start menu, desktop, or taskbar.
  2. Click the More button — it is located near the top-right corner of the window and looks like ...
  3. Click Settings.

  1. Click Add new page.
  2. Type a URL.

  1. Click the Save button. It looks like a floppy disk and is located next to the URL field.
  2. Click the More button to close the menu.

How to stop websites from opening when you launch Edge

If you're tired of seeing a page when you launch Edge, you can remove individual pages from the list.

  1. Launch Edge from your Start menu, desktop, or taskbar.
  2. Click the More button — it is located near the top-right corner of the window and looks like ...
  3. Click Settings.

  1. Click the X next to the URL you'd like to remove.
  2. Click the More button to close the menu.

How to change what opens when you create a new tab in Edge

To boost productivity or to make Edge seem just a bit more like your own, you can customize what opens when you create a new tab. Here's how to do it.

  1. Launch Edge from your Start menu, desktop, or taskbar.
  2. Click the More button — it is located near the top-right corner of the window and looks like ...

  1. Click Settings.
  2. Click the dropdown arrow beneath Open new tabs with.

  1. Click a new tab option. You can choose from:
    • Top sites and suggested content: the sites you visit most and current news stories will be displayed.
    • Top sites: the sites you visit most will be displayed as thumbnails.
    • A blank page: A blank page with an address bar will be displayed.
  2. Click the More button to close the menu.

How to customize your suggested content

If you choose tabs to open with Top sites and suggested content, you can customize the suggested content.

  1. Launch Edge from your Start menu, desktop, or taskbar.
  2. Click the New tab button (+) at the top of the window or use the Ctrl + T shortcut on your keyboard.

  1. Click the Customize button. It looks like a gear and is located to the right of the window above top-site thumbnails.
  2. Click the dropdown arrow beneath Select language & content.

  1. Click a country and language option.
  2. Click the switches beneath Information cards to toggle whether or not you want to see Weather, Sports, and Money information.

  1. Click any favorite topics to see more related content in new tabs. You can click any selected topics again to deselect them.
  2. Click Save.

How to restore customized tabs to their default settings

Tired of what you're seeing in new tabs? You can completely reset what tabs open with to start fresh.

  1. Launch Edge from your Start menu, desktop, or taskbar.
  2. Click the New tab button (+) at the top of the window or use the Ctrl + T shortcut on your keyboard.
  3. Click the Customize button. It looks like a gear and is located to the right of the window above top-site thumbnails.

  1. Click Reset to default settings.
  2. Click Reset.

Your launch options

Do you set certain sites to open each time you launch Edge? Let us know in the comments section!

Cale Hunt
Cale Hunt
Senior Editor, Laptop Reviews

Cale Hunt is formerly a Senior Editor at Windows Central. He focuses mainly on laptop reviews, news, and accessory coverage. He's been reviewing laptops and accessories full-time since 2016, with hundreds of reviews published for Windows Central. He is an avid PC gamer and multi-platform user, and spends most of his time either tinkering with or writing about tech.

22 Comments
  • Can we add extensions in Microsoft Edge mobile?
  • no
  • Edge is such a poor performer, I switched to using apps for Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and YouTube, cause Edge just can't handle them, and it is on SP4 with i7 and 16GB ram... I can't even imagine what happens on machines with lower specs... I would use Chrome or Opera, but they don't work with touch that well...
  • Core i5 4430 here, 16 GB and works perfectly fine.
  • My laptop has Core i5 2520M + 4 GB ram, and works good. But I use Chrome, because Edge's Favorites it's really bad, (Settings too) big and ugly, synchronization not working, plus miss some extension and setting.
  • It could partly be the web developers.
  • Will it be possible to set new tab to bing.com or google.com?
  • Would like to know this also. Plus, how to make opening link to new tab active without having to click the tab.
  • hmmm, FB, insta, tumblr and YT run fine on edge on my transformer mini running an atom and 4gb.
  • I've pretty much given up on Edge.  I can't open YouTube anymore using Edge on my PC OR my smartphone.  It seems to be blocked.  Sad to say, I have had to resort to Firefox.
  • Same here, I cant open any google sites. But this problem is not consistent some times it opens but most of the time it fails. This issue is very obvious in 14986 slow ring.
  • Lucky, I  am stuck with this.
    "There were problems installing some updates, but we'll try again later. If you keep seeing this and want to search the web or contact support for information, this may help:
    Windows 10 Insider Preview 14986 (rs_prerelease) - Error 0x80242006"
    ​Build 14971 is deteriorating. Window Central is getting worse on Edge, it took me about 10 minutes to write this comment and I switched over to the app now.
  • I have found that the problem goes away if I use InPrivate browsing.  Which doesn't make any sense.  I tried changing Edge (and it happens with IE11, now, too) to stop all extensions/addons from loading, etc., and still can't access those sites most of the time.  And Microsoft has NO idea what's causing it.  I've seen others have complained about this on the Feedback site, so, we're not unique.
  • I don't have the slightest problem opening any of those sites on Edge
  • Google refuse to let you work on edge unless you sign in with google account for them to track you.
  • I added two sites to my launch when starting Edge settings. Sometimes these work, other times the sites from my previous session are open when I launch Edge. See noway to stop this behavior.
  • I have it configured to show the start page on startup, but it insists on loading my previous tabs instead. Very disappointing how little advanced Edge remains.
  • Edge is poor quality. It performs as though it is unfinished. Edge makes my laptop bog down. Hopefully future updates will polish up the performance. I'll sick with Firefox.
  • I sure wish I could change my start screen on mobile.. :-/
  • I absolutely love my Surface Book. But Edge runs like a snail. Webpages take forever to load. Chrome loads pages as fast as lightning, but Edge takes way too long. I wish I knew what the problem is because I love the features on Edge over Chrome.
  • The one thing that would make Edge useful is if you could uninstall it.
  • 25th july 2017 and still cant open a new tab to my default home page. pretty sad stuff really.