Browsers and Mail Add and Remove Sites from Sleeping Tabs Exclude List in Microsoft Edge

Brink · Jul 1, 2022

This tutorial will show you how to add and remove sites on an exclude list to the never put these sites to sleep in Microsoft Edge for your account or all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

The Microsoft Edge web browser is based on Chromium and was released on January 15, 2020. It is compatible with all supported versions of Windows, and macOS. With speed, performance, best in class compatibility for websites and extensions, and built-in privacy and security features.

The sleeping tabs feature in Microsoft Edge makes background tabs sleep after two hours of inactivity by default in order to free up resources for active tabs, new tabs, and other applications on your device. Sleeping tabs will fade to indicate they’ve released resources. To resume a sleeping tab, click/tap on it like a normal tab. The tab will un-fade and your content will be immediately available.

To help you stay on task and limit potential compatibility issues, the following activities prevent sites from going to sleep:

The page is currently visible (active tab)
The page is currently holding a Web Lock or an IndexedDB transaction
The page is sharing its BrowsingInstance with another page
The page is your company’s internal (intranet) site
The page is currently being inspected by DevTools
The page is currently playing audio
The page is currently capturing a window or screen
The page is currently capturing user media (webcam, microphone, etc)
The page is currently being mirrored (casting, etc)
The page is on the user’s block list in Settings
The page is currently using WebUSB

When efficiency mode is turned on and active, inactive background tabs will be put to sleep after 5 minutes or less.

If you like, you can add sites you never want put to sleep in Microsoft Edge to an exclude list. Adding a site to the exclude list will prevent it from sleeping from the Sleeping tabs and Efficiency mode features.

Reference:

Learn about performance features in Microsoft Edge - Microsoft Support

Learn about performance features in Microsoft Edge, such as sleeping tabs, efficiency mode, and performance detector.

support.microsoft.com

If sleeping tabs is turned off, you will not be able add and remove sites from the exclude list.

Contents

Option One: Add and Remove Sites from Sleeping Tabs Exclude List for Current User from Settings
Option Two: Add and Remove Sites from Sleeping Tabs Exclude List for All Users in Registry Editor

Option One

Add and Remove Sites from Sleeping Tabs Exclude List for Current User from Settings

1 Open Microsoft Edge.

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

3 Do step 4 (add) or step 5 (remove) below for what you want.

4 Add Site to "Never put these sites to sleep" Exclude List

A) Click/tap on System and performance in the left pane. (see screenshots below)

B) Click/tap on the Add button under Never put these sites to sleep.

C) Type a site's URL (ex: "https://www.elevenforum.com/"), and click/tap on Add.

5 Remove Site from "Never put these sites to sleep" Exclude List

A) Click/tap on System and performance in the left pane. (see screenshots below)

B) Under Never put these sites to sleep, click/tap on the More actions (3 dots) button to the right of the site (ex: "https://www.elevenforum.com/") you want to remove.

C) Click/tap on Remove.

D) Click/tap on the Close (X) button for the site you removed at the top right corner.

Option Two

Add and Remove Sites from Sleeping Tabs Exclude List for All Users in Registry Editor

You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

This option uses the SleepingTabsBlockedForUrls policy for Microsoft Edge.

1 Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

2 Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\SleepingTabsBlockedForUrls

If you do not have the SleepingTabsBlockedForUrls key available, then right click on the Edge key, click/tap on New, click/tap on Key, and type SleepingTabsBlockedForUrls for the new key's name.

3 Do step 4 (add) or step 5 (remove) below for what you want.

4. Add Site to "Never put these sites to sleep" Exclude List

Users will not be able to remove sites added using this policy in Option One.

A) Right click on an empty area in the right pane of the SleepingTabsBlockedForUrls key. (see screenshot below step 2)

B) Click/tap on New, and click/tap on String Value.

C) Type 1 for the name of the new String Value (REG_SZ).

You would increase the number for the name of each new String Value (REG_SZ) for each site you want to add.

D) Double click/tap on the new String Value (REG_SZ) name (ex: "1") to modify it.

E) Type a site's URL (ex: "https://www.elevenforum.com/"), and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

F) When finished adding sites, go to step 6.

5. Remove Site from "Never put these sites to sleep" Exclude List

A) In the right pane of the SleepingTabsBlockedForUrls key, right click on the String Value (REG_SZ) name (ex: "1") for the site (ex: "https://www.elevenforum.com/") you want to remove. (see screenshot below step 2)

B) Click/tap on Delete.

C) Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)