Best Microsoft Edge flags you can try on Windows 11

After Microsoft implemented the Chromium engine for the new Edge browser, there were many new changes perceived. The Chromium Edge browser has gained huge popularity, especially on desktops. In terms of market share, it sits at second position after Chrome browser. The access to Chrome extensions, powerful battery life, and support for flags has made Microsoft Edge a great choice among users.

Microsoft Edge flags you can try on Windows 11

Microsoft Edge has several new features available, which you can enable through its ‘edge://flags’ feature. These flags are versatile, which means that they can be used for modifying your browser window appearance, boosting productivity, privacy features, and more.

If you are an Edge user, then you need to consider using Microsoft Edge flags. If you have now fully moved to Microsoft Edge, then it’s now time to learn a few of the best Edge flags. Remember that these flags are only compatible with the desktop, not with the Android version of Edge. Before going through the info of the best Microsoft Edge flags, let’s know how to enable them:

Steps to enable Flags on Microsoft Edge:

• On Microsoft Edge browser, copy ‘edge://flags/’ and paste it in the address bar.
• Press Enter, and you will be directed to the Flags page.
• Now from there, you can search for a specific flag using a search bar or Ctrl + F in the browser window.
• After finding a flag, please enable it from the drop-down menu.
• Restart the browser, and the flag will now be implemented.

Best Microsoft Edge Flags you can try:

1. Force Dark Mode for Web Contents:
   

#enable-force-dark

As implied from the name, this flag allows you to modify the browser theme to dark. But this is not the only function it supports. You can also force apply a dark theme on web pages. With this flag, you need not depend on third-party extensions such as Dark Reader to transform all things dark.

The best thing about using this flag is that it resolves the inversion of the images found earlier. From the drop-down menu, you need to select ‘Enabled’ and then restart your browser to see the dark mode all over on your browser.

Various dark modes are available for you to try. The default mode transforms everything over your browser screen pitch to black. If you want something less invasive, you can select anything from ‘selective image inversion’ to ‘selective inversion of everything.’ If you don’t want dark mode, then you can disable these settings.

2. Previews Allowed:

#allow-previews

Each website is equipped with anchor text, hyperlinks, and various other approaches to let visitors click around the site. However, all links are not instructive about what you are clicking. So, the Previews Allowed flag creates a preview snippet to make sure you need not have to click the link before seeing where it really takes you. This flag saves you a bit of time. If the link is merely clickbait and does not convey what was promised, you can discover them before clicking on the page.

3. Tab Groups:

#enable-tab-groups

When it comes to organizing tabs easily, Tab Groups is a great Microsoft Edge flag you can try. For tab hoarders, it is one of the greatest useful flags. When the ‘Tab Groups’ is turned on, it allows you to effectively organize tabs into visually dissimilar groups. You can categorize a group of tabs in a common color to make sure you can easily transfer to that specific group of tabs. Moreover, you can assign colors depending on their diverse set of tasks.

If you are interested to let each tab appear different, then this flag proves to be helpful. It works on an idea to link an identical task for a set of opened tabs. So, even if you have opened lots of tabs while browsing, you can still return to the tab groups with specific worthwhile associations.

To enable this flag, you need to right-click on top of the flag that you want to be incorporated into the group. Now bundle them together as you like.

4. Secure DNS lookups:

#dns-over-https

This flag powers the website to load across HTTPS encryption. It forces the website to go HTTS, just like what the HTTPS Everywhere extension does. When this flag is enabled, your browser might attempt to use a secure HTTPS connection to search for the addresses of websites and other web resources. Moreover, you may need to modify your DNS server to Cloudflare, Google Public DNS, etc.

5. ClickOnce Support:

#edge-click-once

ClickOnce is a functional Windows component that allows the flawless deployment of any application without needing administrator permissions. This feature is supported by Edge Chromium and Internet Explorer browsers only.

After being installed, ClickOnce will deploy and update the software on the devices with the least possible user interaction. All you need to do is click a link on a web page, and then it is deployed over the side. Furthermore, the programs can be installed without making any user configurations like what options to install, file locations, etc.

6. Desktop PWAs Run on OS Login:

#enable-desktop-pwas-run-on-os-login

If you habitually use PWAs (Progressive Web Apps) over the Microsoft Edge browser, you must enable this flag. It enables PWAs like Spotify and Twitter to behave like native applications with support for the background notifications. When this flag is turned on, the PWAs can initiate their services in the background immediately after your log into your computer. No need to manually open Microsoft Edge and retain the PWA in active status for receiving notifications.

7. Lazy Image Loading:

#enable-lazy-image-loading

As suggested by the name, Lazy Image Loading delays the image loading time. This Edge flag will only render the images the moment the user comes in the viewport. It means that images are rendered when the user navigates down the page.

This flag is very useful when it comes to speeding up page loading and decreasing your Internet data. It can speed up page loading time because it loads images only when you scroll across the page. The loading of images that are marked with the ‘loading=lazy’ is deferred until the page is scrolled down next to them.

8. Microsoft Voices Extension:

#edge-microsoft-voices

If you cannot read the text but can only listen then this flag is useful for you. It enables ‘Read Aloud software’ and other web-based applications to read the text just like humans read. The voice reading is accomplished through online voices provided by Microsoft from the speech synthesis API.

9. Enable Sharing Page via QR Code:

#enable-desktop-pwas-run-on-os-login

If you want to share a web page shown on your screen through a QR code, this flag is useful. You only need to search for the ‘Enable Sharing Page via QR Code’ in the Flags page available on Microsoft Edge and then enable it. After that, a ‘QR code’ icon is visible in the address bar, beside the bookmark icon. Now you have to right-click on the webpage to generate a QR code. Finally, you can easily share the QR code with anybody for sharing the article. Moreover, you can download the image to be delivered to anybody on their phones.

10. Hardware-accelerated Video:

#disable-accelerated-video-decode | #disable-accelerated-video-encode

Usually, the CPU handles tasks like graphics loading of games and video play. During those tasks, the CPU consumes a lot of power. The ‘Hardware Accelerated Video’ flag decreases this load employed. It does this by allowing other hardware accessories such as GPU to manage the Video Play. So, other operations perform smoothly when exporting in HEVC and H. 264/AVC codecs.

11. Global Media Controls:

#global-media-controls

The new global media controls are one of the most refined Chrome features. This same feature is brought to Edge by Microsoft. It makes media controls on MS Edge easily accessible. Moreover, you can carry out tasks like play, pause, change tracks, etc., from one place.

This flag also permits you to make a PiP window directly from the media control tooltip. Once enabled, you will see the toolbar at the top-right corner. To enable the flag, you have to allow the following two options:

• Global Media Controls
• Global Media Controls Picture-in-Picture

12. Heavy Ad Intervention:

#enable-heavy-ad-intervention

Occasionally, heavy advertisements present on certain websites can dominate your device resources. Similar to Chrome, Edge browser is working on its optimization to block out those web pages with heavy ads that don’t obey the rules fixed by Better Ads Standards.

The Edge browser lets you disable these heavy ads by unloading them. Therefore, it minimizes the usage of GPU, CPU, and bandwidth. If you want to add an ad-blocker extension, then you may try out this feature. It effectively reduces the load on your system resources.

13. Compositor Threaded Scrollbar Scrolling:

#compositor-threaded-scrollbar-scrolling

You may have liked scrolling on the classic Edge due to its exceptional effect. Now you can obtain the same experience on your Edge browser too. You need to enable “Compositor Threaded Scrollbar Scrolling” and “Smooth Scrolling.” Consequently, you will see the new Edge browser acting like the rubber band effect of the classic version.

14. Parallel Downloading:

#enable-parallel-downloading

To speed up the downloading of your files, the Parallel Downloading feature is the best one. After enabled, it splits the file to be downloaded into distinct tasks. So, it makes the job speedier than you can if you have tried downloading those files in one go.

15. Experimental QUIC protocol:

#enable-quic

Recently, Google has launched a connection protocol named QUIC. This protocol is a combination of UDP and TCP protocols. When these two protocols combine, it provides you with a faster browsing experience and a safer experience as well.

This flag makes a single trip between server and client. It significantly decreases the time required to transfer data packets. So, it boosts data exchange speed and, in turn, boosts the overall browsing speed.

16. Sleeping Tabs:

#edge-sleeping-tabs

A lot of users are habituated to keep plenty of tabs open. They don’t close the tabs even after several days. If this happens, the tabs will consume crucial resources. To avoid this issue, Microsoft brings a flag called Sleeping Tabs. This flag automatically sets idle background tabs to sleep. So, it saves system resources on the computer. As a result, it promises fast performance with simultaneous savings in resources.

After you enable this flag on your Microsoft Edge browser, follow this navigation path:

Settings -> System -> Save Resources.

From there, you can configure the time after which the flag will trigger.

17. Potentially Unwanted App Protection:

#edge-smartscreen-pua

Internet is occupied with spyware and malware. You may be lured to download an app without acknowledging that the software might comprise of virus which can infect your device. When you enable the ‘Potentially Unwanted App Protection’ flag, the Microsoft Defender SmartScreen would defend you against downloading unwanted apps.

18. Quieter Notifications:

#quiet-notification-prompts

On the web, notifications create a lot of annoyance. Nearly all website misuses the notification permission and continually prompts a dialog box to permit notifications.

You can block the notification prompts by turning on the ‘Quieter notification permission prompts’ flag. It will completely block the notification prompts on your Microsoft Edge browser.

19. Anonymize Local IPs Exposed by WebRTC:

#enable-webrtc-hide-local-ips-with-mdns

For all privacy lovers, this flag is helpful. If are using a WebRTC application like Facebook Messenger, Google Meet, GoToMeeting, or Discord, you might have to hide your private IP address. This flag can conceal such local IP addresses through a feature known as ‘dynamically generated Multicast DNS’ (mDNS).

20. Tab Hover Cards:

#tab-hover-cards

Tab Hover Cards flag presents a novel approach to identifying and scrolling through the Microsoft Edge browser tabs. It is advantageous while you are working with plenty of tabs. When you enable flags like ‘Tab Hover Cards’ and ‘Tab Hover Card Images’, the tab’s preview image will be displayed in a hovercard style. This will be done when you hover the cursor on a tab. For faster and seamless navigation, this flag is quite useful.

21. Credit Card Autofill Ablation Experiment:

#enable-autofill-credit-card-ablation-experiment

If you don’t want the browser window to remember your credit card details for every new transaction, then you should enable the ‘Credit Card
Autofill Ablation Experiment’ flag. Once enabled, it makes sure there will be no more autofill suggestions shown for credit card numbers.

22. Fill Passwords on Account Selection:

#enable-winrt-sensor-implementation

This flag works as a privacy feature to deal with Microsoft Edge autofill settings. For sensitive websites, rather than Autofill suggestions, you might prefer filling in the passwords. This can be done on your Edge browser through this flag. If you missed out on the Autofill feature for frequently used websites like Gmail, you could easily disable this flag.

23. Pull-to-refresh Gesture:

#pull-to-refresh

Pull-to-refresh gesture flag is a two-finger swipe-down gesture that works efficiently for immediately refreshing webpages. Once this flag is enabled, you can swipe down using two fingers to refresh your webpage.

24. FTP URLs:

#enable-ftp

If Microsoft Edge shows an error after entering a local FTP address, the ‘FTP URLs’ flag will solve the issue. You only need to open the Flags page on Edge browser and turn on the ‘Enable support for FTP URLs’ flag. As a result, you can access the FTP locations of your phone or any other devices from the Edge browser.

25. Omnibox UI Max Autocomplete Matches:

#omnibox-ui-max-autocomplete-matches

Turn on this flag if you want to let the Microsoft Edge browser display more autocomplete suggestions within the Omnibox UI. With this flag, you can also select the number of matches (max.12) to display in the address bar.

Concluding Note:

Microsoft Edge proves to be a versatile browser offering a comprehensive set of features, just like those found in Firefox or Chrome. With the use of any of these flags, certainly, your browsing experience turns engaging.

It is recommended not to enable all the flags at once because it can stir instability in the Edge browser. Only enable the flag you need.

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