How Can You Easily Manage Microsoft Edge’s Shopping Assistant for a Smoother Browsing Experience?

Is Microsoft Edge’s Shopping Assistant Hurting Your Productivity? Learn How to Control or Remove It

Microsoft Edge, starting from version 132.0, features an updated Shopping Assistant that tracks product prices directly from the address bar. This tool delivers notifications about price changes, coupons, and product comparisons, aiming to enhance online shopping convenience. However, not every user finds this feature helpful—some prefer a streamlined browser without extra notifications or tracking.

What Does the Shopping Assistant Do?

• Tracks product prices and displays a price tag icon in the address bar.
• Offers a sidebar with historical price data when you click the icon.
• Shows notifications and reminders about deals, powered by Microsoft Shopping and Bing.
• Collects browsing and shopping page data to personalize recommendations.

How to Enable or Disable Shopping Assistant in Microsoft Edge

Through Edge Settings

1. Open Microsoft Edge.
2. Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services.
3. Find the “Save time and money with Shopping in Microsoft Edge” option.
4. Toggle this setting on or off to enable or disable the Shopping Assistant.

To Disable Shopping Reminders Only

1. When the price tracking icon appears in the address bar, click it.
2. In the sidebar, select the three-dot menu near the close button.
3. Click “Disable shopping reminders” to stop price notifications.

Advanced Method: Using Registry Policy

For administrators or advanced users, the Shopping Assistant can be controlled via Windows Registry:

1. Press WIN + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to:
   • For all users: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft
   • For the current user: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft
3. Create a new key named Edge under Microsoft.
4. In the Edge key, create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value called EdgeShoppingAssistantEnabled.
   • Set the value to 1 to enable the feature.
   • Set the value to 0 to disable it.
5. To restore defaults, delete the EdgeShoppingAssistantEnabled entry.

Key Takeaways

• The Shopping Assistant can help frequent online shoppers but may be unnecessary for others.
• Both simple and advanced methods are available to control this feature.
• Adjusting these settings can help create a more focused or personalized browsing environment, depending on your needs.

This approach ensures Microsoft Edge works the way you want, whether you value shopping insights or prefer a distraction-free browser.