How to Completely Disable ‘Collections’ System-Wide in Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge Collections is a built-in feature designed to help users gather, organise, and export web content. By clicking the Collections icon in the toolbar, users can drag and drop images, text snippets, and entire webpages into visually appealing lists. While highly useful for research and online shopping, Collections synchronise across devices using a Microsoft Account. In strict enterprise environments, educational computer labs, or public kiosks, this data synchronisation and storage capability can violate strict data governance policies, encouraging users to save sensitive web clippings to their personal cloud accounts.

This guide explains how to completely disable the Collections feature in Microsoft Edge using a Registry edit, permanently removing the button from the toolbar and preventing users from accessing the feature.

Disable Collections via Registry Editor

To forcefully remove Collections from the browser interface, you must configure a specific Edge policy in the Windows Registry. This method applies system-wide and requires Administrator privileges.

1. Close all active instances of Microsoft Edge.
2. Press the Windows Key + R to open the Run dialogue box.
3. Type regedit and press Enter to launch the Registry Editor. Accept the UAC prompt if it appears.
4. Navigate down the left-hand directory tree to the following path:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft

5. Check if a sub-folder (Key) named Edge exists. If it does not, right-click the Microsoft folder, select New > Key, and name it exactly Edge.
6. Select the Edge key. Right-click anywhere in the blank space on the right-hand pane and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
7. Name this new DWORD exactly: EdgeCollectionsEnabled.
8. Double-click the EdgeCollectionsEnabled value to open it.
9. Ensure the “Value data” box is set to 0. (A value of 0 strictly disables the feature. Changing it to 1 would explicitly enable it).
10. Click OK and close the Registry Editor.

Verify the Policy Implementation

Once you reopen Microsoft Edge, the changes will be immediately apparent. Look at the top right corner of the browser toolbar, next to your profile icon and the address bar. The Collections icon (which looks like two overlapping squares with a plus sign) will be completely missing.

Furthermore, if you right-click anywhere on a webpage or highlight text and right-click, the context menu option to “Add to Collections” will be entirely gone. The browser will now operate without any visual or functional trace of the Collections feature, ensuring compliance with your local data management policies.