By default, Microsoft Edge does not give you the option to customize what web page opens when you open a new tab. It automatically takes you to a Microsoft page. This is frustrating behavior and degrades the overall user experience. Luckily, there is an easy way to change this and set Google or any other website as your default new tab page.
How to Set Google as your New Tab Page
- Open Edge and install the “Custom New Tab” extension going clicking here
- Click the blue “Get” button then click “Add Extension” when the dialog box pops up
- Next, click on the three dots in the top right corner of your Edge browser and go to the “Extensions” dropdown item
- Another dialogue box will popup – this time click “Manage Extensions”
- Now, click the toggle switch to turn on the extension
- Next, click “Details” and then towards the bottom click on “Extension Options”
- Another dialgog box will popup. This is where you will entere the url that you want to open in your new tab.
- Click save.
- Our last dialog box will popup asking you if you want to keep the changes. Make sure you choose to keep them.
- Done
As you can see Microsoft really does not want you to change that new tab page as they make it fairly difficult when it really should just be a setting within Edge. My guess is that this takes away from their advertising revenue due to the fact that they use their own web page as the default new tab page.