How to Disable Visual Search in Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge allows users to directly search for images instead of performing a text search on Bing. You can search an image to find similar images on the web either by clicking on the square icon at the top-right of images in your browser or by right-clicking on an image and selecting the visual search option.

However, the icon at the top-right of the image can get in the way. For example, if you frequently screenshot images from the web, you might find it annoying that whenever you hover the cursor over the image, it shows the visual search icon which also appears in the screenshot.

Fortunately, turning off visual search is easy. Here, we’ll show you how to disable the feature.

How to Completely Disable Visual Search in Edge

If you’re wondering why we say “completely”, it’s because this method effectively disables the visual search option. You’ll no longer be able to use the feature on Microsoft Edge. If you only want to disable visual search only for select websites, skip over to the next section.

You can disable visual search from Microsoft Edge settings. You can navigate to visual search settings in Microsoft Edge by either of the following methods:

1. Hover your cursor over an image. When the visual search icon appears, select the ellipsis and then click on Settings.

2. Select the ellipsis at the top-right of Microsoft Edge and select Settings. Select Appearance from the left sidebar. Then, click on Visual search from the right pane.

Disable the options called Show visual search in the context menu and Show visual search on image hover by toggling off the buttons to their right.

This will disable visual search. You’ll no longer be able to either methods (context menu or image hover) to search an image using the visual search feature on Edge.

How to Disable Edge’s Visual Search for Select Websites

The visual search icon can be a little annoying if you don’t use the function too often, but you might still find it useful in some cases. For example, when you’re shopping online, you might want to run a search for a specific product to see what’s out there.

Instead of disabling visual search for all websites, you can just disable it for websites that you use most frequently, so the visual search icon can no longer bother you. For example, you might want to disable visual search for Facebook or other social media websites.

Fortunately, Microsoft Edge has a built-in feature to exclude specific websites from using the visual search feature.

To add exclusions, you’ll need to navigate to visual search settings. Like mentioned in the previous section, there are two ways to navigate to visual search settings. Let’s say you click on the ellipsis under the visual search icon and select Settings.

Once you’re in the visual search settings, scroll to the bottom and look for the option called Visual search turned off for these sites. Select the Add button next to the option.

You’ll see a pop-up. Enter the URL of the website you want to exclude from using visual search and click Add. Keep adding more websites to the list based on your preference.

When you’re done, go to one of the websites you added to the list. You shouldn’t see the visual search option any longer.

Visual Search Disabled in Microsoft Edge

With visual search disabled in Edge, you’ll have a cleaner experience if the feature was bothering you. However, visual search is indeed a useful feature for those who need to perform an image search frequently, so you can always switch it back on. Of course, Microsoft Edge also has plenty of other tricks to improve your user experience.