Learn more about Microsoft Edge. Helpful for beginners.
This article is being updated for the latest Chromium version of Edge. Please check back for more Microsoft Edge tips.
Microsoft Edge comes with Windows 10. There are a lot of other web browsers for Windows to download and use, but if you’d like to learn more about what you can do with Edge, this article is a good place to start.
1. Microsoft Edge tips
Microsoft offers an Edge tips page with introductory guides to new Edge features, customizations, and plugins.
To access the Edge Tips page, click on Edge’s main menu, hover over `Help and feedback’, and choose `What’s new and tips’.
2. Fullscreen
Try pressing F11 on the keyboard to make Edge go full screen. You can also access full screen (for all UWP – Universal Windows Platform apps) by pressing Win + Shift + Enter. Using the mouse you can also access the full screen by clicking the double arrow in the menu:
See other Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts.
3. Enter immersive reader
If you’re less into images and more into text, or you simply enjoy distraction-free reading, then try Edge’s `immersive reader’ view (formerly reading view). To access it, click on the small book icon at the top of the browser, in the address field.
For the original non-Chromium version of Edge, this option had a keyboard shortcut of Ctrl + Shift + R. However, in the latest Chromium version of Edge (see The new Microsoft Edge is available), the keyboard shortcut doesn’t appear to have been set up.
4a. Extensions
No browser would be complete nowadays without the use of in-house and third-party extensions. These free browser add-ons provide extra functionality and convenience to your browsing experience. To access the Extension panel in Edge, go to the main menu and choose Extensions:
As you can see above, I’m using 5 extensions in Edge at the moment:
To see what extensions are available, look at the foot of the extensions panel and click, `Explore more extensions’, which will take you to the Microsoft Store:
4b. Add extensions from the Chrome Web Store
With the latest version of Edge (now built around the open-source Chromium engine), you can use the myriad of extensions available for the Google Chrome browser.
- Go to the Chrome Web Store.
- Select Allow extensions from other stores in the banner at the top of the page.
- Search for and select the extension you’d like to add and select Add to Chrome.
- At the prompt showing permissions required by the extension, review the permissions, and select the Add extension button.
- Edge will confirm that the extension has been added.
5. Favorites bar / Favorites
If you can’t see the favorites bar near the top of the browser, go to Settings and more (Alt+F), Favorites, Show favorites bar, and choose Always, Never, or Only on new tabs.
You will see that Edge shows you the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+B to Show the favorites bar.
Right-clicking a favorite in the Chromium version of Edge, now gives you the following options: Open in new tab, Open in new window, Open in InPrivate window, Edit, Show icon only, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Add this page to favorites (Ctrl+D), Add folder, Show favorites bar (Ctrl+Shift+B), Hide favorites button from toolbar, and Manage favorites (Ctrl+Shift+O).
6. Click to mute audio
If you’d like to mute the audio on a page, you can simply click the speaker icon on the page tab. Click it again to unmute it:
7. Edge keyboard shortcuts
| Alt + Right arrow | Go forward |
| Alt + Left arrow (or Backspace) | Go back |
| Ctrl + T | Open a new tab |
| Ctrl + K | Duplicate tab |
| Ctrl + Tab | Switch to the next tab |
| Ctrl + Shift + Tab | Switch to the previous tab |
| Ctrl + 1, 2, 3, and so on | Switch to a specific tab number |
| Ctrl + 9 | Switch to the last tab |
| Ctrl + W or Ctrl + F4 | Close the active tab |
| Ctrl + Shift + T | Reopen the last closed tab |
| Ctrl + click | Open link in a new tab |
| Ctrl + Shift + click | Open link in a new tab and switch to that tab |
| Alt + Shift + click | Open link in a new window |
| Ctrl + F (or F3) | Find on page |
| Ctrl + D | Add current site to favorites or reading list |
| Ctrl + I | Open favorites pane |
| Ctrl + J | Open downloads pane |
| Ctrl + H | Open history pane |
| Ctrl + P | Print the current page |
| Ctrl + Shift + R | Enter reading view |
| Ctrl + N | Open a new window |
| Ctrl + Shift + P | Open a new InPrivate Browsing window |
| Ctrl + Plus (+) | Zoom in (25%) |
| Ctrl + Minus (-) | Zoom out (25%) |
| Ctrl + 0 (zero) | Reset zoom level |
| F5 or Ctrl + R | Refresh the page |
| Esc | Stop loading the page |
| Ctrl + L or Ctrl + O (letter O) | Select the URL in the address bar to edit |
| Ctrl + Shift + L | Open address bar query in a new tab |
| Ctrl + E | Open a search query in the address bar |
| Ctrl + Enter | Add www. to the beginning and .com to the end of the text typed in the address bar |
| Ctrl + Shift + M | Start creating web notes |
| Ctrl + Alt + M | Copy selected content into a web note |
| F12 | Open F12 Developer Tools |
| Ctrl + U | View source |
| F6 | Toggle focus between webpage content and the address bar |
| F7 | Turn caret browsing on for the active tab |
| Ctrl + Shift + Delete | Show controls to clear browsing data |
| Reading books in Microsoft Edge: | |
| Alt + T | Open or close the table of contents |
| Ctrl + B | Open or close your list of bookmarks |
| Ctrl + Shift + D | Add or remove a bookmark |
| Ctrl + Shift + O | Open or close Options |
| Ctrl + Shift + Y | Open or close the reading bar |
| Ctrl + Shift + U | Open Books in the Hub |
| Ctrl + Shift + G | Start read aloud |
| F11 | Enter or exit full-screen reading |
| Left or Up arrow, or Page Up | Go to next page |
| Right or Down arrow, or Page Down | Go to the previous page |
| Home | Go to the beginning of the book |
| End | Go to the end of the book |
| Ctrl + F | Search the book |
| Ctrl + Shift + S | Save the book locally (for books not purchased in the Microsoft Store) |
| Ctrl + G | Go to page (when the book supports page lists) |
| Alt + A | Open the Notes panel |
| Reading fixed-layout books in Microsoft Edge: | |
| Ctrl + Shift + A | Toggle between “fit to width” and “fit to page” layout |
| F8 | Toggle between one-page and two-page layouts |
| Reading PDFs in Microsoft Edge: | |
| Ctrl + G | Go to a specific page number |
| Alt + T | Open or close the table of contents |
| Ctrl + F | Search the document |
| Ctrl + Plus (+) or Ctrl + Minus (-) | Zoom in / zoom out |
| Ctrl + Shift + A | Toggle between “fit to width” and “fit to page” layout |
| F8 | Toggle between one-page and two-page layouts |
| F9 | Rotate PDF |
| F11 | Enter or exit full-screen reading |
| Ctrl + Shift + G | Start read aloud |
| Ctrl + Shift + M | Add notes to PDF books |
| Ctrl + Shift + S | Save a copy of the PDF document |
See also Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts
8. Zoom in and enlarge content
If you’d like to make the page content larger (and easier to read) you can. Just press Ctrl on the keyboard while scrolling your mouse wheel. You can also press Ctrl while pressing + or – on the keyboard Numpad.
See also Zoom in and out – Quick tip
9. Move tab to another window (right-click tab)
If you find yourself with many Edge tabs or windows open, you might want to organize them. You can right-click on a tab, and then choose Move to another window. You can then select to move that page/tab to a new window or any other Edge window that you have open. This makes it easier to separate tabs or group tabs together.
More Microsoft Edge Tips for beginners are coming. If you have any tips of your own, leave them in the comments.
See also:
- Microsoft Edge Insider program
- Windows 10 tips for beginners
- F11 now works for Microsoft Edge full-screen mode
Links at Microsoft:
Microsoft Edge Developer Blog (Microsoft)
What’s new in Microsoft Edge in the Windows 10 Creators Update