How to Enable and Use Edge’s Sleeping Tabs

Published on 2025-05-01 by Light4Tech Solutions

Modern web browsers are powerful, but they can also consume a lot of memory and CPU—especially when multiple tabs are open. That’s where Microsoft Edge’s Sleeping Tabs feature comes in. Introduced to improve browser efficiency, Sleeping Tabs help users save system resources without sacrificing productivity. In this post, we’ll show you how to enable and use this feature, and why it might be a game-changer for your everyday browsing.

What Are Sleeping Tabs?

Sleeping Tabs is a feature built into Microsoft Edge that automatically puts inactive tabs to sleep after a certain period of time. When a tab is put to sleep, it frees up CPU and memory usage while retaining the tab’s content. Once you click back on the tab, it instantly “wakes up” and reloads right where you left off. This feature is ideal for users who juggle many tabs at once and want to avoid performance slowdowns.

Microsoft reports that Sleeping Tabs can reduce memory usage by up to 32% and CPU usage by 37% on average. This means longer battery life for laptops and smoother multitasking for everyone. Whether you’re using Edge for work, research, or casual browsing, this feature ensures your browser stays fast and efficient.

How to Enable Sleeping Tabs in Edge

To start using Sleeping Tabs, make sure you're running the latest version of Microsoft Edge. Here's a step-by-step guide to enabling the feature:

1. Open Microsoft Edge and click on the three-dot menu in the top-right corner.
2. Select Settings.
3. In the sidebar, choose System and performance.
4. Scroll down to find the section titled Optimize Performance.
5. Toggle on Save resources with sleeping tabs.

You can also customize how quickly tabs go to sleep. By default, Edge puts tabs to sleep after 5 minutes of inactivity, but you can change this to anywhere between 30 seconds and 12 hours depending on your preference.

Excluding Important Tabs from Sleeping

There might be some tabs you always want to keep active—such as music streaming services, messaging apps, or live dashboards. Fortunately, Edge allows you to add exceptions. In the same System and performance settings page:

1. Scroll down to Never put these sites to sleep.
2. Click Add and enter the URLs you want excluded from sleeping.

This level of control ensures that only the tabs you don’t need immediately are paused, while your key tools stay live and uninterrupted.

Why You Should Use Sleeping Tabs

Sleeping Tabs are especially useful for those who work with multiple browser windows or have dozens of tabs open at once. Here are a few benefits that make it worth enabling:

• Improved Performance: Freeing up memory and CPU helps your device run smoother, especially during heavy workloads.
• Better Battery Life: For laptop users, reduced resource usage means your battery lasts longer throughout the day.
• Environmentally Friendly: Efficient use of computing resources helps lower energy consumption over time.
• Customizable Behavior: With adjustable timeouts and site exclusions, you control how it works for your needs.

Pro Tip:Pin tabs you use all day and exclude them from sleeping to strike the perfect balance between efficiency and convenience.