With the new Sleeping Tabs feature, you can reduce Edge RAM usage by 25%. Here are the steps to enable Sleeping Tabs in Microsoft Edge.
In a recent update, Microsoft added a new feature called Sleeping Tabs to the Edge browser. As you can guess from the name, the Sleeping Tabs feature will put unused tabs to sleep after a set amount of time. As you know, every tab in the Edge browser consumes some amount of memory or RAM to run. So the more tabs you have in the Edge browser, the more memory it will consume. This is especially true for tabs with heavy content like media playback, big spreadsheets, etc.
If you are like me who opens a lot of tabs and forgets to close them, allowing the Edge browser to suspend unused tabs will free up a lot of memory. The good thing is, the suspended tabs will auto-reload to show the content when you select the tab. To suspend unused tabs in the Edge browser, you need to enable Sleeping Tabs and configure it as needed.
So, without ado, let me guide you through the steps to enable Sleeping Tabs and change Sleeping Tabs timer in the Microsoft Edge browser.
Enable Sleeping Tabs in Microsoft Edge Browser
As of writing this, you have to first turn on Sleeping Tabs in Edge Flags and then on the Settings app. It is pretty easy to do. Follow the steps below.
1. First, open the Edge browser by searching for in the Start menu or by clicking on the Edge icon on the taskbar.
2. In the browser, type “edge://flags/#edge-sleeping-tabs” in the address bar and press Enter. This will take you to the Sleeping Tabs feature on the experimental features page.
3. Select “Enabled” from the dropdown menu next to the “Enable Sleeping Tabs” option.
4. After enabling the feature, restart the Edge browser. Restarting is necessary to apply the changes.
5. After restarting, open the Edge settings page. To do that, click on the “Menu” icon (three horizontal dots) on the top-right corner and select the “Settings” option. You can also type “edge://settings” in the address bar.
6. Select the “System” tab on the sidebar. Alternatively, type “edge://settings/system” in the address bar and press Enter.
7. Turn on the “Save resources with sleeping tabs” option under the “Save resources” section.
Note: If you are not seeing the option, make sure the Edge browser is up to date and the Sleeping Tabs feature is enabled on the Edge Flags page.
That is it. From now on, the Edge browser will suspend or put unused tabs to sleep. When a tab is suspended or asleep, the tab will show “This tab is sleeping to save resources” in the tab title. You can easily recognize a sleeping tab by their faded out names in the tab title.
Change Sleeping Tabs Timer in Edge
The Edge browser allows you to change the Sleeping Tabs timer. This lets you command after how much time Edge should suspend the unused background tabs.
- First, open the Edge browser.
- Type “edge://settings/system” in the address bar and press Enter.
- Select the Sleeping Tabs timer from the dropdown menu next to the “Put inactive tabs to sleep after the specified amount of time” option under the Save Resources section.
The default timer is “2 hours of inactivity”. In general, setting the Sleeping Tabs timer to “30 minutes of inactivity” is sufficient for most users.
Disable Sleeping Tabs Feature
If you no longer need to Sleeping Tabs feature or if it is not working as it should, you can disable it. Here’s how.
- Open the Edge browser.
- Go to the Settings page.
- Select “System” on the sidebar.
- Turn off the “Save resources with sleeping tabs” option under the “Save resources” section.
- Restart the Edge browser.
That is all. It is that simple to enable the Sleeping Tabs feature to suspend tabs in the Edge browser.
I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible. If you like this article, do check out how to stop Windows from showing Edge tabs in the Alt-Tab menu.
