If you use Bing as your default search engine within Microsoft Edge, you might notice a very specific and polarizing behavior: every time you click on a search result link, Edge automatically opens that website in a completely new, background tab rather than navigating forward in your current tab.
Microsoft designed this to help you easily return to your original list of search results without having to hit the “Back” button. However, if you are rapidly researching a topic and clicking through several different links, this behavior will cause your browser window to violently explode with dozens of open tabs in a matter of minutes, severely cluttering your workspace and draining your computer’s RAM.
Because this behavior is actually tied to the Bing search engine rather than the Edge browser itself, you must dive into your Bing profile settings to explicitly force links to open in the same window.
How to Stop Edge from Opening Results in New Tabs
You must adjust your search preferences directly on the Bing homepage.
- Open the Microsoft Edge browser.
- Navigate directly to the Bing homepage (
www.bing.com). - In the top-right corner of the Bing homepage, click on the Hamburger menu (three horizontal lines).
- Select Settings, and then click on More from the drop-down menu.
- Look under the section labeled Results.
- Locate the checkbox labeled Open links from search results in a new tab or window.
- Uncheck this box.
- Scroll to the very bottom of the page and click the blue Save button.
The next time you perform a search in Microsoft Edge, clicking on a result will instantly navigate your current tab forward to the destination website, ensuring your tab bar remains perfectly clean and uncluttered.