How-To

How to Remove the Bing Chat Button from Microsoft Edge

By Brian Burgess

Published April 9, 2023

The new Bing AI chatbot is available in Microsoft Edge with a sidebar button to access it. If you want to remove the Bing chat button, use this guide.

If you are using the most up-to-date version of Microsoft Edge, you’ve probably noticed a new Bing Chat AI button in the top right corner of the browser.

It is a straightforward process to disable the Edge sidebar via browser settings, but it doesn’t affect the Bing button. In addition, there isn’t an option in settings to remove it—you’ll need to edit the Registry instead.

If you don’t want to use Microsoft’s Bing AI and find the button gets in your way or find it annoying, remove it. Learn how to remove the button from Microsoft Edge by editing the Registry below.

What is the Bing Chat Button in Microsoft Edge?

The Bing chat button lives above the sidebar on the right above the other controls. So, if you disable the Edge sidebar, it won’t affect the Bing chat button.

What can be particularly irksome about the button is you don’t have to click it. Bing’s Chat AI will open by hovering the cursor over the button. The Bing Chat AI chat experience pops open from the left.

Having it automatically launch is like the Widgets board on Windows 11 that launches when you hover your mouse over the button in the left corner of the taskbar. By the way, you can stop the pop-up Widgets board behavior via settings.

How to Remove the Bing Chat AI Button from Edge via the Registry

Even though Microsoft doesn’t include a setting to turn the Bing Chat AI button off, you can eliminate it by tweaking a Windows Registry setting.

Note: Editing the Registry isn’t for beginners or the faint of heart. Deleting the wrong key or entering an incorrect value can cause your system to crash. Before proceeding, ensure you have a current system image backup and an up-to-date Restore Point and that you back up the Registry first. With those backups in place, you can recover your system if something goes awry.

Once you have the necessary backups, you can remove the Bing Chat button via the Registry. Before you start, ensure all instances of Microsoft Edge are closed. These steps are designed for Windows 11 but should work for Windows 10 PCs, too.

To remove the Bing Chat button from Microsoft Edge:

1. Press the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to launch the Run dialog.
2. Type regedit and press Enter or click OK.
3. Navigate to the following path:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft

   

4. Right-click an empty space in the Microsoft folder on the right and choose New > Key.
5. Name the subfolder Edge.
6. Right-click inside the subfolder and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
7. Name the new DWORD to HubsSidebarEnabled.
8. Right-click the value, click Modify and ensure its Value data is set to 0 (zero).
9. Click OK and close out of Registry Editor.
10. Launch Microsoft Edge on your desktop.
11. Type edge://policy in the address bar and press Enter.
12. Click the Reload Policies button in the top left.

The Bing Chat button will disappear and no longer display on Edge.

Blocked the Microsoft Edge Sidebar?

In addition to removing the Bing Chat button, the entire Edge sidebar that contains various tools will be hidden if you use the Registry steps below to hide it. If you go into Edge’s sidebar settings, options to customize it will be grayed out.

So, if you want it back, you must go back into the Registry Editor and change the HubsSidebarEnabled value to 1.

It’s also important to mention that while this process currently works, Microsoft can send an update that can render it unusable. We’ll do our best to keep this updated if anything changes, however.

Manage Your Settings in Microsoft Edge

If you aren’t sure you want to accept AI into your life yet, you can eliminate the Bing Chat AI button on Microsoft Edge even while the company attempts to force it on users. But on the other hand, if you use Bing Chat but find the button on Edge annoying, you can also remove it and the sidebar.

You can always use Bing Chat AI in a separate tab or alternative browser. And when it comes to using Microsoft’s AI, you might want to know how to clear your Bing Chat AI search history.

Microsoft has put a lot of other features in Edge. For example, you might want to share files between devices with Edge Drop or add a second user profile to Edge. Or, you can get better performance from the browser by enabling Efficiency Mode on Edge.