Browsers and Mail Change Inactivity Timeout for Sleeping Tabs in Microsoft Edge

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, it's the only browser you'll ever need.

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.

When efficiency mode is turned on and active, the Put inactive tabs to sleep after the specified amount of time setting will always get set to 5 minutes of inactivity and grayed out. To set the amount of time using the sleeping tabs settings, turn off efficiency mode.

This tutorial will show you how to change the background tab inactivity timeout for sleeping tabs in Microsoft Edge for your account or all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.







1 Open Microsoft Edge.

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


3 Click/tap on System and performance in the left pane. (see screenshots below step 4)

4 Select an inactivity time you want in the Put inactive tabs to sleep after the specified amount of time drop menu. (see screenshot below)

2 hours of inactivity is the default setting.

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

This option uses the SleepingTabsTimeout policy for Microsoft Edge.

1 Do step 2 (30 Seconds), step 3 (5 Minutes), step 4 (15 Minutes), step 5 (30 Minutes), step 6 (1 Hour), step 7 (2 Hours), step 8 (3 Hours), step 9 (6 Hours), step 10 (12 Hours), or step 11 (default) below for what you want.

This will override and gray out Option One.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This will override and gray out Option One.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This will override and gray out Option One.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This will override and gray out Option One.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This will override and gray out Option One.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This will override and gray out Option One.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This will override and gray out Option One.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This will override and gray out Option One.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This will override and gray out Option One.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This is the default setting to allow using Option One.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

12 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

13 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

14 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

15 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink