How to Show or Hide the Bookmark Bar in Chrome, Edge and Firefox

Despite their differences in other areas, Chrome, Firefox, and Edge agree on one thing: the shortcut that should be used to show or hide the bookmarks bar at the top of your browser window. Here's how to use it:

1. Click on your browser window and press “Ctrl + Shift + B” on your keyboard

   If your bookmark is showing, pressing this key will instantly hide it. If its hidden, the bookmarks bar will appear below your address bar again.

   

The Microsoft Edge favorites bar (a.k.a. bookmarks bar) can be easily toggled in its settings menu for those who don't have a keyboard or struggle to memorize shortcuts. Here's where you find the option:

1. Press “…” in the top-right corner and choose “Settings”

    

   

2. Click “Appearance” in the sidebar, then switch “Show favorites bar” to “Never”, “Always”, or “Only on new tabs”

   These choices are quite self-explanatory, with “Never” naturally hiding the bookmarks bar in Edge.

   

A faster way to hide the bookmarks bar in Chrome or Edge is to use its right-click menu. This only works if you have the bookmarks bar showing already, so if you have your bar to only show in new tabs you should open one before starting.

1. Right-click the bookmarks bar and uncheck “Show bookmarks bar” in the list

   In Edge, you'll instead hover over “Show favorites bar” and then tick “Never”.

   

2. OR: Press the three dots and choose “Bookmarks > Show bookmarks bar”

   This option is only there on Chrome at the time of writing.

   

Much like Microsoft Edge, you can also choose not to display the bookmarks bar by modifying your browser settings. This should only take a few clicks:

1. Press the “…” in the top-right and choose “Settings”

    

   

2. Click “Appearance” in the sidebar and toggle “Show bookmarks bar”

   Switching the toggle to off will hide the bookmarks bar.

   

If your Chrome bookmarks bar is being particularly stubborn or you need to make the change without interacting directly with the browser, you can do so via the registry. It's more complex, but still quite approachable for the average user:

1. Press Start and type “Registry Editor”, then click the top result

    

   

2. Navigate to the local machine policies key and create a new key

   To do so, paste Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies into your Registry Editor address bar, right-click the “Policies” folder, and choose “New > Key”.

   

3. Name the new key “Google”

    

   

4. Right-click the “Google” folder and select “New > Key”

    

   

5. Name the new key “Chrome”

    

   

6. Right-click any blank space in the main pane and press “New > DWORD (32-bit) Value”

    

   

7. Name the new DWORD “BookmarkBarEnabled”

    

   

Firefox allows you to enable or disable the bookmarks bar, whether it's currently showing or not, in just two clicks:

1. Right-click next to the address bar and press “Bookmarks Toolbar > Never Show / Always Show”

    

   

2. OR: Show or Hide the Firefox bookmarks bar via the hamburger menu

   Click the hamburger menu in the top-right, then click the “Bookmarks” heading.

   

3. Click “Hide bookmarks toolbar”