How to Add or Remove Sites on Sleeping Tabs Block List in Microsoft Edge Chromium


Microsoft has adopted the Chromium open source project in the development of Microsoft Edge on the desktop to create better web compatibility. This new Microsoft Edge runs on the same Chromium web engine as the Google Chrome browser, offering you best in class web compatibility and performance.

The new Chromium based Microsoft Edge is supported on all versions of Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows Server (2016 and above), Windows Server (2008 R2 to 2012 R2), and macOS.

To improve memory and CPU utilization of the Microsoft Edge browser, Microsoft has developed a feature called sleeping tabs.

Early internal testing of devices with sleeping tabs has shown a median memory usage reduction of 26% for Microsoft Edge. Microsoft's internal testing has also shown that a normal background tab uses 29% more CPU for Microsoft Edge than a sleeping tab. These resource savings should result in excellent battery savings. Although individual device performance varies depending on configuration and usage, Microsoft expects the decrease in resource and battery usage to create a better browsing experience for users.

Sleeping tabs builds upon the core of Chromium’s “freezing” technology. Freezing pauses a tab’s script timers to minimize resource usage. A sleeping tab resumes automatically when clicked, which is different than discarded tabs, which require the page to fully be reloaded.

Microsoft built upon the freezing technology to create sleeping tabs. This feature allows inactive background tabs to “go to sleep,” releasing system resources after a set amount of time. These resources include both memory and CPU and can be used for new or existing tabs or other applications running on your device.

By default, Microsoft set tabs to go to sleep after two hours of inactivity. If two hours isn’t right for you, you can choose a different time interval. Tabs that are asleep will fade to let you know they’ve released resources. To resume a sleeping tab, click on it like a normal tab. The tab will un-fade and your content will be there immediately. You can also add sites you never want to sleep to a block list in Settings.



See also:

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove sites on a sleeping tabs block list in the Chromium based Microsoft Edge.

With this technology, it is possible that some sites may not work as expected after they go to sleep. Microsoft has built heuristics to detect these scenarios and prevent those tabs from sleeping to keep you in your flow. Microsoft is eager to get your feedback on sleeping tabs. If you experience a compat issue, please refresh the page and let Microsoft know through Microsoft Edge by pressing Shift+Alt+I on a Windows device or going to Settings and more … > Help and feedback > Send feedback.



Contents

  • Option One: Add Sites to Sleeping Tabs Block List in Microsoft Edge
  • Option Two: Remove Sites from Sleeping Tabs Block List in Microsoft Edge






OPTION ONE

Add Sites to Sleeping Tabs Block List in Microsoft Edge


1 Open Microsoft Edge.

2 Click/tap on the Settings and more (Alt+F) button (3 dots), and click/tap on Settings. (see screenshot below)

Add or Remove Sites on Sleeping Tabs Block List in Microsoft Edge-microsoft_edge_settings.png

3 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on the Add button to the right of Never put these sites to sleep under Save resources on the right side. (see screenshot below)

If you do not see a left pane, then either click/tap on the 3 bars menu button towards the top left OR widen the horizontal borders of the Microsoft Edge window until you do.

Add or Remove Sites on Sleeping Tabs Block List in Microsoft Edge-microsoft_edge_sleeping_tabs_block_list_add-1.png

4 Type the URL address of the site (ex: "https://www.tenforums.com") you never want to sleep, and click/tap on Add. (see screenshot below)

Add or Remove Sites on Sleeping Tabs Block List in Microsoft Edge-microsoft_edge_sleeping_tabs_block_list_add-2.png

5 When finished, you can now close the Settings tab if you like.






OPTION TWO

Remove Sites from Sleeping Tabs Block List in Microsoft Edge


1 Open Microsoft Edge.

2 Click/tap on the Settings and more (Alt+F) button (3 dots), and click/tap on Settings. (see screenshot below)

Add or Remove Sites on Sleeping Tabs Block List in Microsoft Edge-microsoft_edge_settings.png

3 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on the More actions (3 dots) button to the right of the site (ex: "https://www.tenforums.com") you want to remove from the block list under Never put these sites to sleep under Save resources on the right side, and click/tap on Remove. (see screenshot below)

If you do not see a left pane, then either click/tap on the 3 bars menu button towards the top left OR widen the horizontal borders of the Microsoft Edge window until you do.

Add or Remove Sites on Sleeping Tabs Block List in Microsoft Edge-microsoft_edge_sleeping_tabs_block_list_remove-1.png

4 When finished, click/tap on the Close (X) button in the removed notification at the top right. (see screenshot below)

Add or Remove Sites on Sleeping Tabs Block List in Microsoft Edge-microsoft_edge_sleeping_tabs_block_list_remove-2.png

5 You can now close the Settings tab if you like.


That's it,
Shawn