How to turn On or Off Energy Saver in Microsoft Edge

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off “energy saver” in Microsoft Edge. You can do this for your account or for all users in Windows 11.

What is Microsoft Edge?

Microsoft Edge is a web browser released on January 15, 2020. It works on Windows and macOS. Edge is fast, secure, and has great privacy features built in.

Why Use Energy Saver?

Energy saver mode helps your battery last longer. It reduces the power your computer uses by limiting how hard the browser works. This is especially useful if you’re using a laptop.

How Energy Saver Works

Energy saver mode does the following:

• Puts background tabs to sleep after 5 minutes of inactivity
• Reduces CPU usage so your system can focus on other apps
• May cause videos to play less smoothly or animations to slow down

When does energy saver turn on? Energy saver activates when your laptop is unplugged from power. It stays on until you plug it back in or your battery runs out.

Will I notice a difference? You may see minor slowdowns when browsing, but battery life improves significantly.

Two Power-Saving Options

Balanced Savings (recommended)

This option balances battery life and browser speed. When unplugged, moderate power-saving steps kick in. You should notice little to no slowdown. If your battery gets low, stronger power-saving steps activate. You may see some slowdown, like less smooth videos. A heart pulse icon appears in your toolbar.

Maximum Savings

Use this when you won’t have power for a long time. Strong power-saving steps are always active when unplugged. You may notice visible slowdowns. A heart pulse icon appears in your toolbar the whole time you’re unplugged.

Learn More

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.

Energy saver | Extend battery life with Microsoft Edge Get on average 25 more minutes of battery life with Microsoft Edge Energy saver. Reduce resource usage, customize settings, and keep tabs efficient.

Option One: Use the Performance Icon

1. Open Microsoft Edge.
2. Do one of the following:
   • Click the Performance (heart pulse) icon on the toolbar, OR
   • Click the Settings and more (3 dots) button, click More tools, then click Performance
3. Turn On or Off “Save battery with energy saver” in the Performance menu.

Option Two: Use Settings

1. Open Microsoft Edge.
2. Click the Settings and more (3 dots) button, then click Settings.
3. Click System and performance in the left pane, then click Performance.

Tip: If you don’t see the left pane, click the 3 bars menu button at the top left or widen the Edge window.

Turn On Energy Saver

This is the default setting.

1. Under Power, turn on Enable energy saver.
2. If your device has a battery, select Balanced (default) or Maximum savings.
3. If your device has a battery, turn On or Off “Use energy saver even when connected to power.”

Turn Off Energy Saver

1. Under Power, turn off Enable energy saver.

Option Three: Enable for All Users

⚠️ Admin privileges required: You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

This option uses the EfficiencyModeEnabled policy for Microsoft Edge.

Open Windows Terminal as an administrator and run the command below. Or open Registry Editor and browse to the key to change the value.

Enable Energy Saver for All Users

This will override and gray out Options One and Two.

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" /v EfficiencyModeEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Disable Energy Saver for All Users

This will override and gray out Options One and Two.

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" /v EfficiencyModeEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Allow User Choice (Default)

This is the default setting. It allows using Options One and Two.

reg delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge" /v EfficiencyModeEnabled /f

Summary

Energy saver mode in Microsoft Edge helps extend battery life on laptops and reduces resource usage on desktop computers. You have two power-saving options: Balanced Savings (recommended) and Maximum Savings. You can turn energy saver on or off using the Performance icon in the toolbar, through Settings, or by using Registry Editor for all users on your computer. When enabled, energy saver puts inactive tabs to sleep and reduces CPU usage, though you may notice minor slowdowns in video playback or animations.