[Tip] Disable Group Similar Tabs Feature in Microsoft Edge
This article will help you in disabling and removing the new “Tab organization” service and “Group similar tabs” feature in Microsoft Edge web browser.
Microsoft has quietly added a new “Tab Organization” feature to Microsoft Edge 116.0.1938.62 and later versions. This new feature provides tips and suggestions to organize and manage opened tabs in the web browser. The main function of this new feature is automatic tab grouping which automatically creates groups of tabs from same website or domain.
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A manual option to group similar tabs is also available on Tab Actions menu button present on the tab bar or toolbar in Microsoft Edge. Users can select the option to create new tab groups manually. Users can set any desired name to the tab group and customize the color.
A “Preview” tag is attached to the option which indicates that the tab grouping feature is currently under development and testing phase.
Microsoft has provided official description of this new feature on Microsoft Edge changelog page:
Tab organization: Microsoft Edge offers helpful suggestions on how to organize tabs to save you time and keep you focused on the web content you care about. These suggestions augment the Tab Grouping feature built into Microsoft Edge. When two or more tabs are grouped together, Microsoft Edge can automatically generate a relevant name for the Tab Group. Furthermore, Microsoft Edge can suggest grouping for all of your tabs by using the “Group Similar Tabs” feature in the Tab Action menu. Administrators can control the availability of this feature using the TabServicesEnabled policy.
If you don’t like the new tab organization suggestions and tab grouping feature in Edge, following methods will help you in getting rid of it:
Table of Contents
METHOD 1: Disable Tab Organization and Grouping Using Edge Settings
Microsoft provides a built-in option to turn off tab organization and group similar tabs functionality on Edge Settings page. Following steps will help you in changing the option to disable the new feature:
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1. Open Microsoft Edge browser and click on the 3-dots menu button present at the right-side of the toolbar. Now select Settings option from the main menu.
Alternatively, you can press ALT+F keys together to show Edge Menu and then press S key to open Settings page. You can also directly open Edge Settings page using edge://settings/ URL in address bar.
2. Now click on Privacy, search, and services tab in left sidebar and in right-side pane, scroll down to bottom to Services section.
Look for Let Microsoft Edge help keep your tabs organized option. The option is enabled by default.
To disable tab organization suggestions and tab grouping feature, set the option to OFF.
It’ll immediately disable the group similar tabs and tab organization feature in Microsoft Edge.
PS: In future, if you want to restore the feature, enable the above mentioned option again.
METHOD 2: Disable Group Similar Tabs and Tab Organization Using Edge Registry Policy
Microsoft also provides an official policy to permanently disable new tab organization service and tab grouping feature in Edge web browser. Users can apply this policy by modifying Windows Registry and it’ll completely remove the new tab features in Edge.
Following steps will help you in implementing the required policy in your device:
1. Press “WIN+R” key combination to launch RUN dialog box then type regedit and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to any of following keys:
If you want to remove the tab organization feature for all Windows users:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft
If you want to remove the tab organization feature for current user only:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft
3. Under Microsoft key, create a new key and set its name to Edge
4. Now select Edge key and in right-side pane, right-click and select “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value” option. Set the new DWORD name as TabServicesEnabled
Leave the value of the DWORD to 0
Now restart Edge browser and the tab organization and grouping features will be disabled permanently.
NOTE: After applying the policy, the Let Microsoft Edge help keep your tabs organized option on Edge settings page will be grayed out and you will not be able to turn the option on or off.
PS: In future, if you decide to restore the features in Edge, delete the above mentioned DWORD from Registry.
Your Browser is Managed by Your Organization Message in Edge
After applying the above mentioned policy or registry tweak, you may notice “Your browser is managed by your organization” message showing on Edge Settings page and main 3-dots Menu in your Edge browser. Don’t worry! It happens when you implement a policy in the web browser. You can safely ignore the message.
Following article provides more details about this message:
[Fix] Your Browser is Managed by Your Organization Message in Microsoft Edge
If you also want to remove or delete Tab Actions menu button from Edge toolbar or tab bar, following article will help you:
[Tip] Hide or Remove “Tab Actions Menu” Button from Tab bar in Microsoft Edge
Thanks! I never asked for “grouping” of tabs, never had a need for it, and my sausage fingers manage to outsmart me all the time. Method 1 was so easy and seems to work perfectly.
The Group feature is still not disabled with “Method 1” using “Let Microsoft Edge help keep your tabs organized” turned off. The tabs are still being accidentally grouped by this annoying feature. After dozens of Edge updates, it is still not possible to turn off it. Fortunately, I’m using Firefox at home, but unfortunately I can only use Edge at work.