How to show the favorites bar in Microsoft Edge (and keep it there)

Updated 18 October 2026

Press Ctrl+Shift+B (Command+Shift+B on a Mac) to show or hide the favorites bar, Edge’s name for the bookmarks bar. To keep it on every page, go to Settings and more (…) > Settings > Appearance > Toolbar and set Favorites to Always.

Turn the favorites bar on for good

1. Select Settings and more (…) in the top right corner of Edge, then Settings.
2. Select Appearance.
3. Under Other appearance settings, select Toolbar.
4. In the Favorites drop-down, choose Always.

Always, Never or Only on new tabs

Favorites bar missing or keeps disappearing?

• It’s set to Only on new tabs. A bar that shows on a new tab and vanishes on websites is this setting doing its job. Switch it to Always.
• You’re in full screen. Press F11 on Windows to leave it, or Esc on a Mac.
• Your organization controls it. On a work or school computer, the FavoritesBarEnabled policy can turn the bar on or off for you. Type edge://policy in the address bar; if the policy is listed, ask your administrator.
• You’re in another profile. Microsoft says each Edge profile keeps its data separate, so a second profile can have an empty bar. Check the profile icon at the top right.
• The bar is on but empty. It shows what’s in the Favorites bar folder. When you save a page with Ctrl+D, choose Favorites bar as the folder before you select Done, or drag existing favorites into that folder in Favorites (Ctrl+Shift+O).
• Favorites from your other computer are missing. They only travel with sync: sign in with the same account on both computers and make sure favorites are on under Settings > Profiles > Sync.

Keyboard shortcuts for the favorites bar

“Not listed” means Microsoft’s list of Mac shortcuts has no entry for it; use Settings and more > Favorites there.

Keep a long bar tidy

To sort the bar alphabetically, open Favorites, select More options > Open favorites page, right-click anywhere on the Favorites bar page and choose Sort by name. Microsoft’s Favorites menu can also remove duplicate links, after showing you what it found. If you also use Chrome or Brave and want more room than one row, Stackboard puts your bookmarks on the new tab page as a board of spaces and stacks.

For administrators: FavoritesBarEnabled

In Group Policy, Administrative Templates > Microsoft Edge > Enable favorites bar shows the bar for everyone when enabled and hides it when disabled; left unset, users decide. Set it as a recommended policy (Microsoft Edge - Default Settings (users can override)) to turn the bar on while letting people change it. The registry value is FavoritesBarEnabled, a DWORD set to 1 to show the bar, under SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge; on a Mac the preference key has the same name.

On iPhone, iPad and Android

Microsoft’s help for the Edge app shows favorites in a list: tap the menu (…) > Favorites. The Favorites bar folder there holds the favorites from your computer’s bar once sync is on, and pages you save on the phone or tablet go to Mobile favorites.