How to Completely Disable ‘Collections’ via Group Policy in Microsoft Edge

Collections is a feature in Microsoft Edge designed to help users organize web content. By clicking the Collections icon, users can drag and drop images, text snippets, and entire web pages into grouped lists that sync across all their devices via their Microsoft account. While useful for students or researchers, Collections can be a data loss prevention (DLP) nightmare in an enterprise environment. Users can inadvertently bypass local save restrictions by dragging sensitive corporate data or proprietary web-app contents directly into a Collection, which is then immediately synchronized to Microsoft’s cloud servers and accessible from the user’s personal home computer.

This guide explains how to completely disable the Collections feature system-wide in Microsoft Edge using Group Policy, ensuring the button is removed and data exfiltration via this vector is blocked.

Disable Collections via Group Policy

To enforce a strict block that completely removes the Collections feature from the browser interface and severs its sync capability, we must deploy an administrative template. Note that this requires Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, or Education editions.

1. Log into Windows 11 with an Administrator account.
2. Press the Windows Key + R to open the Run dialogue box.
3. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter to launch the Local Group Policy Editor.
4. In the left-hand navigation pane, navigate precisely to this path:

   Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Edge

5. In the right-hand pane, locate the policy named Enable Collections feature (or simply “Collections”).
6. Double-click the policy to open its configuration window.
7. Select the radio button next to Disabled.
8. Click Apply, then click OK.

Verify the Feature Removal

Group Policy changes require the browser to read the registry upon its next launch. Close all active instances of Microsoft Edge.

To verify the restriction is active, reopen Microsoft Edge. Look at the toolbar in the top right corner of the window. The dedicated Collections icon (a square with a plus sign) will be completely missing. Furthermore, if you right-click on an image, a hyperlink, or a block of highlighted text, the context menu will no longer offer the “Add to Collections” option. The browser is now secured against this specific method of cloud-based data exfiltration.