How to Completely Disable ‘Scroll to Text Fragment’ via Group Policy in Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge includes a Chromium-based feature known as “Scroll to Text Fragment.” This capability allows web developers—and users generating specific URLs—to append a text snippet to a link (e.g., #:~:text=specific%20phrase). When the browser navigates to that URL, it automatically scrolls down the page and highlights the exact text fragment. While this improves navigation and user experience, it has been flagged by security researchers as a potential privacy risk. Malicious actors could theoretically exploit this feature to perform cross-site data leaks, determining if specific text (like a username or sensitive account status) exists on a page by measuring the timing or network behavior of the forced scroll.

This guide explains how to completely disable ‘Scroll to Text Fragment’ via Group Policy in Microsoft Edge, mitigating this specific vector for side-channel data extraction in highly secure environments.

Disable Scroll to Text Fragment via Group Policy

To enforce a strict block that disables the feature globally across the browser, 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, strictly follow this exact path:

   Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Edge

5. In the right-hand pane, locate the policy named Enable Scroll to Text Fragment.
6. Double-click the policy to open its configuration window.
7. Select the radio button next to Disabled. (By disabling this policy, we instruct the Edge rendering engine to ignore any text fragment directives appended to URLs).
8. Click Apply, then click OK.

Verify the Configuration Lockdown

Group Policy changes require the browser to read the registry upon its next launch. Close all active instances of Microsoft Edge. If you wish to force the policy update immediately across the OS, open Command Prompt as Administrator and run gpupdate /force.

To verify the restriction is active, open Microsoft Edge and navigate to a URL that contains a text fragment directive (for example, navigate to a long Wikipedia article and append #:~:text= followed by a word at the bottom of the page). The browser will load the page at the very top and will completely fail to scroll or highlight the target text. The browser is now cryptographically bound to ignore text fragment parsing, preventing potential cross-site scrolling leaks.