The Problem with AI Tab Management
Microsoft Edge recently introduced an AI-powered feature that automatically organizes your open tabs into color-coded groups. If you open three different Wikipedia articles and two news sites, Edge will silently push them together and label them “Research” or “News.” While this sounds helpful for users with dozens of cluttered tabs, it can be incredibly disorienting. If you have a specific mental map of where your tabs are located across the top of your screen, having an algorithm constantly rearranging them and adding colorful labels destroys your workflow. If you prefer to manage your own workspace, you should disable this automated grouping feature.
How to Turn Off Automatic Tab Groups
You can completely disable the AI organization directly from the main Edge settings menu without needing to use hidden experimental flags.
- Open the Microsoft Edge browser.
- Click the three horizontal dots (…) in the top right corner of the window.
- Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on Appearance.
- Scroll down the main page until you find the section labeled “Customize browser.”
- Locate the toggle switch for the setting named Allow Edge to automatically group tabs (in some versions, it may be phrased as “Group similar tabs automatically”).
- Click the toggle to turn it Off.
Managing Existing Tab Groups
Disabling the feature prevents Edge from grouping any new tabs you open, but it will not instantly dismantle the groups it has already created. To ungroup your existing tabs:
- Right-click on the colored label (e.g., “News”) of an existing tab group at the top of your browser.
- Select Ungroup from the context menu.
- The colored outline will disappear, and the tabs will remain exactly where they are as independent, ungrouped web pages.