If you use Microsoft Edge regularly, it might be worth customizing the new tab page to something useful. Here's how to do so.

The new tab page is where your browsing experience begins. Understandably, customizing this page to your preferences can help you enjoy a better, more productive browsing session.

With Microsoft Edge, you can customize the appearance of your browser, including the new tab page. So here, we provide a step-by-step guide to customizing the new tab page in Microsoft Edge.

On a new tab page in Edge, you’ll notice a settings icon below your profile photo. To customize this page, click on this settings icon and choose one of the three default layouts: Focused, Inspirational, and Informative.

Alternatively, you can design a custom layout. Let’s have a look at these new tab layouts individually.

As the name suggests, the Focused layout reduces the distractions from your screen and helps you focus on the task at hand. It has a plain background, with a search bar and Microsoft logo.

On the top-left, there are weather and apps icons. You can show or hide the Quick Links. On scrolling down, you can access Microsoft Start—a personalized newsfeed service.

The Inspirational new tab page layout is almost identical to the Focused one. But instead of having a Microsoft logo, it displays a random, beautiful image as the background.

From the bottom-right corner, you can click on Like this background and choose whether you like the current background image or not. Your feedback will help Edge to display better images in the future.

The informative new tab layout features a search bar and background image. But most of the screen is occupied by Microsoft Start content.

The content shown here includes news, weather, sports, and stocks update. You can also view your saved stories and filter news by topic/interest.

If nothing of the above works for you, Edge allows you to create a custom new tab page. From the settings icon, choose custom. Here, you can decide whether to turn on or off promoted links and the Office sidebar, besides specifying the number of rows in Quick Links.

Edge also allows you to personalize the background. You can choose a plain background, the image/video of the day, or one of the custom Microsoft Edge themes as your background.

Lastly, you can choose whether to display the Microsoft Start content and if it should be visible or partially visible.

Whether you want a clutter-free page for increased productivity or a content-rich page to keep up with the news, you can customize the new tab page in Microsoft Edge.

The default layout options should work well for most people, but you can still choose a custom layout.

Thanks to this customization option, your browser's appearance can be tailored exactly to your preferences. But besides this, you can also add Microsoft Edge themes to spice up your browser.

Born and based in Pakistan, Syed Hammad Mahmood is a writer at MUO. With over three years of writing experience, his areas of expertise include browsers, online tools, and productivity software. Since childhood, he has been surfing the web, finding tools and tricks to make the most of the latest technologies. Besides MUO, he writes for TechObservatory.

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