Disable or Remove “Open Link in Split Screen Window” Option in Edge

If you want to get rid of the “Open link in split screen window” option from the context menu (right-click menu) in Microsoft Edge web browser in Windows 10 or Windows 11, this article will help you.

In Microsoft Edge web browser, when you right-click on a link to open it in a new tab, to copy its URL or to access other options, you now get a new option “Open link in split screen window” added to the context menu as shown in following screenshot:

Microsoft Added Split Screen Context Menu Option and Toolbar Button to Edge

The new context menu option is added by a new feature called “Split Screen Mode” introduced in Microsoft Edge web browser. This new feature allows Edge users to open and browse 2 different websites or webpages side-by-side in a single browser window. We posted about this new feature last year when it was under development and testing phase. You can read more about this feature in this article.

Split screen feature also adds its dedicated button to Edge toolbar which allows users to launch split screen mode quickly and easily. If you don’t use the new feature, you might find the extra toolbar button and the new “Open link in split screen window” context menu option unnecessary and annoying.

Many Edge users who don’t use split screen feature, want to disable or remove the split screen context menu option as well as its toolbar button in their Edge browser to free up space.

Fortunately, Microsoft has provided options to disable Split Screen feature in Edge browser which will remove the split screen toolbar button and context menu option.

In this article, we’ll share 2 methods to get rid of the “Open link in split screen window” option from the context menu and its toolbar button in Edge. These methods will help you in completely deactivating and removing Split Screen feature from Edge browser.

METHOD 1: Disable Split Screen Feature Using Microsoft Edge Settings

Microsoft has provided a built-in option on Edge Settings page to quickly turn on/off the split screen feature in the web browser. Once you disable the split screen feature, it’ll remove its option from the context menu and its button from the toolbar.

STEP 1: Click on the 3-dots menu button present at the right-side of the toolbar and select Settings option from the main menu. Alternatively, you can directly open Edge Settings page using edge://settings/ URL in address bar.

STEP 2: Now go to Appearance tab and in right-side pane, scroll down to bottom and under Customize browser section, look for following toggle option:

Just set the toggle option to OFF i.e. disable the toggle button to disable split screen feature.

STEP 3: Microsoft Edge will ask to restart the browser, click on Restart button and after restarting the browser, split screen feature as well as its context menu option and toolbar button will disappear from the web browser.

PS: In future, if you want to enable the new split screen feature again, enable the above mentioned toggle option.

METHOD 2: Completely Remove Split Screen Feature Using Microsoft Edge Flags Page

There is also a hidden secret preference/flag available to enable or disable the split screen feature in Microsoft Edge. You can modify this secret preference to disable the feature in Edge using following steps:

STEP 1: Open Microsoft Edge web browser and type edge://flags/ in address bar and press Enter. It’ll open the advanced configuration page.

STEP 2: Now type split in the “Search flags” box.

Look for following option on the page:

STEP 3: To disable split screen feature in Edge, select Disabled from the drop-down box for the above mentioned option.

STEP 4: Microsoft Edge will ask you to restart the browser. Click on “Restart” button to restart Microsoft Edge.

After restarting Edge, you’ll no longer see split screen feature anywhere in the web browser.

PS: If you decide to restore split screen feature in Edge, select Default or Enabled option from the drop-down box for above mentioned option on edge://flags page and restart the browser.

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