Microsoft Edge is Windows 10’s built-in web browser. If you’re learning about Windows or just getting started, here are some Microsoft Edge tips to help you. We’ve included tips that we find helpful and use ourselves. Let us know about any of your favorites in the comments, and we can add them.
1. What’s new and tips
Microsoft offers a tips page with introductory guides to new Edge features, customizations, and plugins. To access the Microsoft Edge Tips page, click on Edge’s main menu (the three dots at the top on the right), 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. Using the mouse, you can also access the entire 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 enjoy distraction-free reading, then try Edge’s `immersive reader’ view (formerly reading view). To access it, press F9 on the keyboard, or click on the small book icon at the top of the browser in the address field.
4. Edge keyboard shortcuts
There are many keyboard shortcuts to help you get around in the browser. Here are the main ones.
| 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 + Shift + E | Search highlighted word in the sidebar |
| 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 |
| F9 | Enter Immersive Reader |
| 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 |
| F11 | Fullscreen |
| 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 |
| F9 | Enter immersive reader |
| Shift + Esc | Browser Task Manager |
| Ctrl + Shift + Delete | 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 + 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 + \ | Toggle between “fit to width” and “fit to page” layout |
| Ctrl + ] | Rotate PDF |
| F11 | Enter or exit full-screen reading |
| Ctrl + Shift + G | Start read aloud |
| Ctrl + Shift + M | Add notes to PDF books |
| Ctrl + S | Save a copy of the PDF document |
5. Extensions / Add-ons
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 in my example, I’m using five extensions here:
To see what extensions are available for Edge, look at the foot of the extensions panel, and you’ll see a blue button that says, `Get extensions for Microsoft Edge’. Click on that button or the blue button below to take you to the Edge Add-ons page:
6. 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.
7. 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).
8. Click to mute audio
If you’d like to mute the audio on a page, you can click the speaker icon on the page tab. Click it again to unmute it:
See also Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts
9. Zoom in and enlarge content
If you’d like to make the page content larger (and easier to read) in any web browser, 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.
10. 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 browser tab and choose Move to another window, and you can then select to move that page/tab to a new or any other Edge window that you have open. This feature makes it easier to separate or group tabs together.
11. Pin tabs
I often use a service called Grammarly to help me improve my writing style and to check my content for plagiarism and originality. The Grammarly page is an online page where we can paste in text to quickly check it. It takes a few seconds for that page to load and set up, so I prefer the idea of keeping it open and ready to use at all times. Having many tabs open in the browser, though, can make things start to look cluttered and confusing. With Edge, we can pin tabs. Pinning a tab doesn’t close it but stores it off to the side for instant access. Here’s how to pin a tab in Microsoft Edge:
Choose which tab you’d like to pin.
Right-click the tab and choose Pin tab.
The tab will now be pinned.
To unpin the tab, right-click it and choose Unpin tab.
12. Long-click arrows to list recent page history
To find a page you have recently visited (in your current browser session), you can long-click (click and hold) the back or forward arrows to see a list of those pages.
This list isn’t as extensive a history list as pressing Ctrl+H, but it helps go back to pages that you’ve visited while the browser has been open.
13. Sidebar search
One of the latest Microsoft Edge tips and features now generally available in Microsoft Edge is sidebar search. While browsing in Edge, highlight a word, right-click it and choose Search in sidebar for “word”. You can also highlight a word and press Ctrl+Shift+E.
The search results conveniently show in a search panel to the side, allowing you to still remain on your current page without having to open or close any tabs.
More Microsoft Edge Tips get added to this list. If you have any useful tips of your own, leave them in the comments, and we can add them to this page. Microsoft has just released an Edge Feature Roadmap.
See also:
Are you a Microsoft Edge user? If not, which web browser do you use and why?
Last Updated on Jun 29, 2022.
Grant is a longtime PC enthusiast. He likes talking about computers and seeing other people enjoy theirs. When he’s not working or tinkering with this site, Grant enjoys playing Apex Legends. Grant lives in Japan as an English teacher and vegetable farmer.
