The newest update for Microsoft Edge, Microsoft’s proprietary browser, will finally allow users to hide the sidebar along with the sidebar button. The update brings many new changes users have been asking for since Microsoft moved the three-dot button to make space for sidebar settings. Microsoft has heard the complaints and now made it so that the sidebar can be toggled in order to show or hide it.
To be able to hide the sidebar in Microsoft Edge, you have to make sure that Microsoft Edge is updated to version 122.
According to Windows Latest, you can go to the cog icon at the bottom of the sidebar (for me, this is on the right-hand side, though it might be positioned differently if you’ve tweaked your sidebar UI) and turn off the “Show sidebar button” setting. This will then remove the sidebar button, which will be switched on by default.
If you want the sidebar hidden from view entirely, the setting for this is found in the same place and under the same icon. The setting that hides the sidebar is called “Always show sidebar,” which when turned off, hides the sidebar and makes more space for the page you’re viewing in your browser. Alternatively, you can navigate to these settings by going to Settings clicking the three-dot icon in the address ribbon, selecting "Settings," and then selecting "Sidebar" from the list of various things you can adjust in the browser.
An upgraded edge
You can check out all of the changes in Edge version 122 is the full official release notes published by Microsoft. The most important alterations include the deprecation of Edge’s image enhancement feature and a rebranding of the Web Capture feature to “Screenshot”. Windows Latest notes that no changes to Web Capture’s functionality have been observed so it’s purely a branding change, and it enables users to capture the page they are viewing or a part of it. You can find Screenshot by clicking the three-dot icon in the top ribbon of Edge (mine is on the right) and clicking Screenshot.
Overall, this update is definitely a welcome move from Microsoft, but it’s interestingly not a total undoing of the introduction of the sidebar. You have to manually hide the “Show sidebar button” and the sidebar in Edge’s settings, otherwise both will be enabled by default.
Microsoft wants as many people to explore its other offerings (such as MSN) as possible, and making them visible by default in the sidebar is a way to do this - though evidently one that was unpopular with some users. Still, it’s a change for the positive and I hope the response from users (as far as this change is concerned, at least) encourages Microsoft to continue making similar improvements to its browser.
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