How to Remove Sidebar Toggle Button from Microsoft Edge Toolbar

If you want to disable or remove the new “Show sidebar” button or icon from Microsoft Edge toolbar, this article will help you.

The newer versions of Microsoft Edge web browser come with a new button addition to the main toolbar. The new toolbar button is actually a toggle option to show or hide the built-in sidebar. The toggle button displays as a small arrow icon and can be used to quickly turn on/off the Edge sidebar on right-side of the web browser.

The sidebar toggle button is actually a placeholder to enable or disable the “Always show sidebar” option present on Edge Settings -> Sidebar page. The button can appear on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices.

Following image shows a comparison of the Sidebar toggle button enabled and removed in Edge browser:

Related: [Tip] Enable or Disable New Sidebar in Microsoft Edge

The new sidebar toggle button appears when the user disables Copilot icon on the toolbar. It seems Microsoft decided to promote the built-in sidebar to users who are not interested in Copilot AI tool. The new sidebar toggle button appears at the same location where Copilot icon is displayed. So basically the sidebar toggle button has been developed to replace Copilot icon in Edge browser on devices where the user disables Copilot feature.

Related: Disable or Remove Copilot Button or Icon from Microsoft Edge Toolbar

Microsoft has not provided any built-in option to hide or remove the sidebar toggle button in Edge browser. In my opinion, there should be an option available on Edge Settings page to add/remove the sidebar toggle button. It’s not a good decision to force the toggle button to all users.

Fortunately, there is a workaround or solution available to easily get rid of the sidebar toggle button from Edge browser. If you also want to disable or remove the new sidebar toggle button from Microsoft Edge toolbar, following steps will help you:

NOTE: This solution works when you launch Edge browser using a customized shortcut placed on Desktop, Start Menu or Taskbar.

STEP 1: Right-click on Microsoft Edge shortcut present on Desktop and select Properties option. If Microsoft Edge shortcut is pinned to Taskbar, right-click on it and again right-click on Microsoft Edge option present on the jumplist and select Properties option.

If you launch Microsoft Edge from Start Menu, copy and paste following string in RUN dialog box and press Enter key:

It’ll open Programs folder in File Explorer which contains Microsoft Edge shortcut. Right-click on it and select Properties option.

STEP 2: Once you open Microsoft Edge properties box, append following string at the end of the text string present in Target field:

--disable-features=msGenericIconSidebarButton

Remember there must be a blank space between existing text string and the appended string.

STEP 3: Apply the changes and launch Microsoft Edge using the shortcut.

STEP 4: You might still see the sidebar toggle button on Edge toolbar. It happens because Edge keeps running in the background because of its built-in “Startup Boost” feature and the parameter doesn’t work. We’ll need to disable Startup Boost feature to make the parameter working.

Open Microsoft Edge Settings and click on System and Performance tab in left sidebar and in right-side pane, you’ll see Startup Boost option. To stop Microsoft Edge from always running in memory, disable i.e. set the Startup Boost option to OFF.

Also disable “Continue running background extensions and apps when Microsoft Edge is closed” option.

More Details: Disable Startup Boost Feature in Microsoft Edge Web Browser

Now close Microsoft Edge browser window and open it again using the customized shortcut and the sidebar toggle icon will disappear forever from the toolbar.

STEP 5: If you still see the sidebar toggle button, try to completely restart Edge using edge://restart command in address bar. You might need to use the command 2 times and the browser will start acknowledging our customized shortcut.

More Info: [Tip] How to Restart Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Opera Without Losing Tabs

PS: In future, if you decide to restore the sidebar toggle button on Edge toolbar, delete the custom parameter from Microsoft Edge shortcut.

NOTE: If you are already using another “–disable-features” or “–enable-features” parameter in Microsoft Edge shortcut, following article will help you in using more than one “–disable-features” or “–enable-features” parameter in Edge’s properties:

[Tip] How to Use Multiple “–Disable-Features” Parameters in Edge Shortcut

BONUS TIP: If you don’t want to create or modify shortcut to always launch Microsoft Edge with sidebar toggle button disabled, you can use following command in RUN dialog box (WIN+R):

It’ll launch Microsoft Edge browser without sidebar toolbar button whenever you execute this command.

Also Check:

Disable Rounded Corners around Browser Frame in Microsoft Edge

[Tip] Restore User Profile Icon on Toolbar in Microsoft Edge