Microsoft Edge 93: hide the titlebar in vertical tab mode

The upcoming Microsoft Edge 93 web browser includes vertical tab mode improvements. Users may flip a switch in Edge to hide the browser's titelbar to gain extra pixels while using vertical tabs.

One major differentiating factor between Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome is the former's support for vertical tabs. Introduced in Microsoft Edge in late 2020, vertical tabs move the tab bar from its horizontal position right above the address bar to a sidebar on the left.

Microsoft added new features to vertical tabs in recent time, first support for resizing tabs, then support for Tab Groups. Tab Groups, which Microsoft will introduce in Edge 93 as well, group tabs together. While this works fine if tabs are displayed horizontally, it works even better when vertical tabs are displayed.

Core reason for that is that vertical tabs displayed more tabs on the screen without scrolling; this in turn makes operations such as drag and drop, or locating tabs or groups easier.

Up until now, vertical tabs did not offer that much of a space saving effect as Edge displays a titlebar if vertical tabs are enabled.  Work on an option to hide the titlebar began in March in development versions of Edge.

Starting in Edge 93 Stable, all users get the option to hide the titlebar if vertical tabs are displayed in Edge.

The design, when enabled, mimics that of Edge's default layout, but without the tabs bar included. The window minimize, maximize and close buttons are displayed in the upper right corner in a very thin bar that is right above the address bar of the browser.

Tabs are displayed vertically, and there is no title bar to display the title of the active page. You may move the mouse cursor over the sidebar to display all titles.

Here is how you enable the feature in Edge 93 and newer:

1. Load edge://settings/appearance in the browser's address bar.
2. Scroll down to the "Customize Toolbar" section.
3. Toggle Hide title bar while in vertical tabs.
   1. It is turned on when the dot is on the right side.
   2. It is turned off if the dot is on the left side.

The feature is enabled on the screenshot above.

Closing Words

Edge's sidebar tabs feature works really well. I have switched to sidebar tabs in all Edge instances on my devices and have not looked back. Some users criticized the feature up until now because it did not save them any pixels because of the inclusion of the title bar in that mode. The new option adds the missing option to hide the title bar to save some pixels in vertical tabs mode.

Microsoft Edge 93: hide the titlebar in vertical tab mode