Microsoft Edge browser has got the ability to automatically freeze background tabs after a specified time to save precious system resources. The feature is available in Canary version for testing. Edge calling the feature as “Sleeping tabs”.
Google Chrome discards or freezes certain tabs automatically after a certain period of time, Microsoft Edge is testing feature similar to this in Canary 87.0.643.0.
Follow the instructions given below to get hands-on the Edge’s new feature that saves resources such as memory, CPU, etc.
Enable Sleeping Tabs in Microsoft Edge
- Launch Edge browser
- Visit edge://flags page
- Search for “Enable Sleeping tabs” and click on the dropdown arrow and select “Enabled”
Sleeping Tabs flags in Edge - Restart the browser
- Visit Settings > System > Put inactive tabs to sleep after a specified amount of time,
Choose the inactivity time, for instance, if you want the background tabs to sleep when they’re idle for 15 minutes, click on the dropdown arrow and select “15 minutes of inactivity”.
You can clearly see Edge’s background tabs being grayed or faded out as a result. And, if you hover over one such tab with the mouse, the title says “This tab is sleeping”.
If you want certain sites to be always active, add them by selecting the option at the bottom of the “Save resources” section.
If you enable another flag “Enable immediate timeout for Sleeping Tabs”, background tabs will go to sleep immediately and ignores the timeout you’ve set.
Note: To see the feature in action right away, you should be enabling this flag along with the “Enable Sleeping tabs” flag.
Chrome Tab freezing vs Edge Sleeping tabs
While the Chrome tab freezing feature doesn’t allow users to choose the freezing time period as it neither has a UI nor a dedicated Setting.
But, Edge does give greater control over the sleeping tabs feature in System Settings when you enable the feature flags. So you’re in charge and can decide when and which tabs to put to sleep and when not, in the new Edge browser.
If you want Chrome tabs to sleep, then you may have to install the Great Suspender extension.
When you put your computer to sleep, it saves power or enters a power-saving state, when you put Edge tabs to sleep they save CPU, memory, and other resources (not sure about Power or laptop battery).
What’s your take on Edge’s Sleeping tabs feature? Have you liked it? Let us know in the comments below.
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