Why is MS moving the Dev Tool Activity Bar?

Question

Why is MS moving the Dev Tool Activity Bar?

Al 105

Got a notification in the Dev Tool about the plan to move the Activity Bar to only allow horizontal display staring in Edge 144. Why is MS doing this? Users who display the Activity Bar vertically do so for a reason. Forcing users to display horizontally will make for a significantly degraded experience.

tolls1

tolls2

BAKKE Vegard 20 Reputation points

2025-11-10T11:38:11.32+00:00

The vertical Activity Bar is what I switch to Edge.

It is the perfect layout when you want to have maximum screen real estate, and at the same time have access to all the activity tabs.

Anyone knows what channel Microsoft is listening to? Where should we voice our concerns?

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BAKKE Vegard 20 Reputation points

2025-11-10T11:38:11.32+00:00

The vertical Activity Bar is what I switch to Edge.

It is the perfect layout when you want to have maximum screen real estate, and at the same time have access to all the activity tabs.

Anyone knows what channel Microsoft is listening to? Where should we voice our concerns?

Answer 1

Arlene D 23,420 Independent Advisor

I understand why the vertical Activity Bar is important. It keeps all your icons visible without resizing and works better across different screens.

If the horizontal-only setting is enforced in your build, you could check the DevTools settings or look for any experimental flags that control the Activity Bar layout. Also, providing feedback through the browser’s built-in feedback tool helps the team understand how this affects real-world workflows.

Al 105 Reputation points

2025-11-04T18:12:53.22+00:00

Thanks. I have submitted to the Feedback page in the browser. Hopefully they reconsider this change. It really serves no purpose to prevent users from choosing an appropriate layout for their use case. If the horizontal orientation makes sense in certain scenarios, then users can simply choose that. But eliminating the choice hinders productivity.
Nicolas Krier 10 Reputation points

2025-11-09T20:16:05.72+00:00

I use Edge since the beginning.
I even had the chance to work on this at Microsoft few years ago!

But if I can't put the activity bar vertically, Edge 144 will be the version i drop Edge to Firefox/Vivaldi (for development purpose: i want to be able to test responsivness and switch dev tools menu and avoid the menu readjusting to size change)

There is some size where it's no big deal but when the dev tool panel is small, horizontal only sho 3 icons. Impossible to deal with while vertical icons allows to switch menu no matter what dev tool size you have.
Nicolas Krier 10 Reputation points

2025-11-09T21:33:05.2566667+00:00

At least allow us to remove the useless help icon easily, and an option to keep only icon : no text for the selected menu
Drew - 460 Reputation points

2025-11-09T23:37:17.4933333+00:00

Maybe opening it up wider will make it a wee bit better 🤷‍♂️️ Since it IS going to be horizonal only, it's the only maybe helpful thought I can offer, FWIW.

Cheers,
Drew

Answer 2

Khaled Sanny 5

Please someone fork Edge can keep that feature live. That is something I've been desperately trying to find on other browsers, and now this ? come on.

Answer 3

Arlene D 23,420 Independent Advisor

Thanks for sharing the screenshots. I see the notification in Edge DevTools about the Activity Bar changing from vertical to horizontal in Edge 144.

Microsoft is making this change to standardize the layout and improve consistency across devices. Are you using the vertical bar to quickly switch panels or for better visibility of icons? After Edge 144, vertical placement won’t be supported, so you’ll need to adjust to the horizontal bar using the "Switch" button to keep your workflow compatible with future updates.

Al 105 Reputation points

2025-11-04T16:24:31.4033333+00:00

I use the vertical Activity Bar so I can see all of the available tabs (icon) without having to resize my screen or the DevTools panel. There is no such thing as a standard display environment, especially across different devices. That is why allowing different docking locations and orientations is useful. Eliminating this flexibility represents a giant step backwards in UI design.
Neville Perkins 20 Reputation points

2025-11-05T08:56:15.9833333+00:00

Agree 100%. Being forced to use the activity bar horizontally where only a few of the tab buttons can be visible, is so counter productive it begs the question to be asked: is Microsoft now valuing form over function?
I guess there are other browsers that are less autocratic in their approach. Sad days ahead.
Romullo Sousa 25 Reputation points

2025-11-06T18:39:00.04+00:00

Can someone explain the UX motivation behind this decision? Speaking of productivity, I only use this vertical bar and it works very well with the vertical tab bar as well. I don't see the need for this change.
Ritesh Pahwa 10 Reputation points

2025-11-07T14:14:05.3366667+00:00

This is one of the most useful features for me and my team, not sure how many people are going to cry after it is removed. I wish Chrome had implemented this too. Please give option to user to switch to vertical why would you remove it if users are using it? It helps in larger screens and smaller screens, as number of options are so many, switching between console, network, elements, etc. take forever you have to click on dropdown to find one and the switch back and forth. PLEASE KEEP VERTICAL OPTION !!!!!!
Al 105 Reputation points

2025-11-07T14:22:29.07+00:00

I have yet to encounter one person who thinks this is a good change. It is really baffling how folks at MS thought it would be. Anyhow, I'm not sure anyone over there is paying attention to this thread. I would suggest you send feedback in Edge and explain to them why this is such a bad change. Maybe if enough people complain, they will not implement it. The feedback option is at the bottom of this menu:
BAKKE Vegard 20 Reputation points

2025-11-10T11:26:47.6+00:00

The only reason I prefer Edge over any other browser for debugging my apps, is exactly the Vertical Activity Bar. It was a great revelation when it appeared. That no one had though of this great feature before....? And no, they'll remove it? So that we can standardize on something that is worse...?
Stanislav Zhukov 0 Reputation points

2025-11-11T18:16:34.6766667+00:00

Оставьте вертикальное расположение, для меня это жизненно важно!!!
Cubiq 0 Reputation points

2025-11-12T14:34:56.1466667+00:00

Created microsoft account just to be able react on this terribly stupid decision.

There is absolutely no reason for doing this massive change and even worse showing a warning that covers almost half of the screen. I can't understand why. Sure, keep the default horizontal, but then give us the choice to go vertically. Absolute waste of the company resources.

The moment my vertical activity bar disappears, this browser disappears for me with it.

lobotomy makes more sense than this.

Answer 4

Alejandro C Bonilla 0

The vertical position of the bar is very comfortable, and it is one of the reasons why I find it easier to use MS Edge for web development. Please keep the option, even if it's only as a flag

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Why is MS moving the Dev Tool Activity Bar?

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