Change your homepage in three steps

Your homepage is the page that loads when you open Microsoft Edge or click the home button. To change it, open Edge, select the menu button (three horizontal dots in the top right), then choose Settings. Go to Start, home, and new tabs on the left sidebar. Under "Home", pick Custom URL and paste the web address you want as your homepage into the box that appears. Close Settings and your new homepage is active.

The process takes less than a minute and works the same way whether you're on Windows, Mac, or a work computer. If you want multiple pages to open when you start Edge, you can add those too — Edge calls this feature "open these pages" and it's in the same Settings menu.

Key Takeaways

  • Your homepage is set in Edge Settings under "Start, home, and new tabs", not in a browser toolbar or extension.
  • You can set a single custom URL, use a blank page, or open multiple pages every time you start Edge.
  • If you paste a URL and it doesn't work, check that you included https:// at the beginning.
  • Changing your homepage in Edge does not affect your search engine — those are two separate settings.

Set a single custom homepage

Open Microsoft Edge and click the menu button in the top right corner — it looks like three stacked horizontal lines. Select Settings from the dropdown menu.

On the left sidebar, click Start, home, and new tabs. You'll see a section labeled "Home" with radio button options. Click the radio button next to Custom URL. A text box will appear below it.

Click inside the text box and paste or type the web address you want to load when you open Edge. For example, you might enter https://www.google.com or https://www.bbc.com. Make sure the address starts with https:// or http:// — Edge needs this prefix to recognize it as a valid web address. Click outside the box or press Enter, then close the Settings tab. The next time you open Edge or click the home button, your new homepage will load.

Open multiple pages when Edge starts

If you want more than one page to load automatically, use the "open these pages" option instead of "Custom URL". In the same Start, home, and new tabs settings, click the radio button next to Open these pages.

Click the Add a new page button. A text box will appear. Type or paste the first web address, then click Add a new page again to add a second address. Repeat for as many pages as you want. Each page will open in its own tab when you start Edge. To remove a page from the list, click the X button next to it.

Use a blank homepage or the default New Tab page

If you prefer Edge to open to a blank page with no content, go back to Start, home, and new tabs and click the radio button next to Blank page. This is useful if you want a clean slate every time you start the browser.

To return to Edge's default New Tab page — which shows shortcuts, news, and search — click the radio button next to New tab page. This is what Edge uses if you've never changed your homepage settings.

Fix a homepage that won't load

If you entered a custom URL but the page doesn't load when you open Edge, the most common cause is a missing web protocol. Edge needs https:// or http:// at the start of every address. Go back to Settings, click Start, home, and new tabs, and check the URL in the Custom URL box. If it starts with just "www" or the domain name alone, click in the box and add https:// to the beginning.

If the page still doesn't load, try opening that address directly in a new tab to confirm the website is working. If the website loads in a new tab but not as your homepage, the URL may have changed. Copy the address from the address bar and paste it into your homepage settings again.

Distinguish homepage from search engine and startup pages

Your homepage, your search engine, and your startup pages are three separate settings in Edge, and changing one does not affect the others. Your homepage is what loads when you click the home button or open a new window. Your search engine is what runs when you type in the address bar — this is set under Privacy, search, and services in Settings. Your startup pages are what loads when you first launch Edge — this is the "Start, home, and new tabs" setting you just used.

If you want your startup pages to be different from your homepage, you can set them separately. For example, you might want Edge to open to your email and calendar when you launch it, but load your company intranet when you click the home button. Set your startup pages under "On startup" and your homepage under "Home" in the same Settings section.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I set different homepages for different user profiles in Edge?

Yes. Each user profile in Edge has its own Settings. If you have multiple profiles set up, log into each one and change the homepage separately in that profile's Settings. The changes won't affect other profiles.

What if my homepage keeps changing back to something else?

A browser extension or malware may be overriding your settings. Go to Settings > Extensions and disable any extension you don't recognize or trust. If the homepage keeps changing after that, run a full antivirus scan on your computer.

Does changing my homepage slow down Edge?

No. Your homepage choice has no effect on Edge's speed. If Edge feels slower after changing your homepage, the cause is likely something else — try clearing your browsing data or restarting the browser.

Can I set a local file as my homepage instead of a web address?

Edge does not support local files as homepages. You must use a web address that starts with https:// or http://. If you want to use a local HTML file, you can upload it to a free web hosting service and use that URL instead.

Will changing my homepage affect my bookmarks or browsing history?

No. Your homepage setting is completely separate from your bookmarks, history, and saved passwords. Changing your homepage will not delete or modify any of those.