How to Set Any Website as Your New Tab Page

If you want to set a website as your new tab page, say your email, a dashboard or your company intranet, you will find the browser settings oddly unhelpful. Chrome, Edge and Firefox all let you choose a home page and startup pages, but none of them lets you type a URL for new tabs. This guide explains why, shows the settings that come closest, and covers the two kinds of extensions that do the job.

Why browsers don't let you set a new tab URL

It used to be possible. Firefox had a browser.newtab.url preference and Chrome let extensions and programs change the page quite freely. Unwanted software abused both to hijack people's new tabs with ad-filled search pages, so the browsers locked it down:

• Firefox removed browser.newtab.url in Firefox 41 (2015). New tabs can now show Firefox Home or a blank page.
• Chrome shows its own new tab page unless an extension replaces it, and asks you to confirm the change when one does.
• Edge works like Chrome: its own page, or an extension's.

On work and school computers, administrators have one more tool: a NewTabPageLocation policy in Chrome and Edge that sets the new tab URL for everyone. It only works on managed devices, which is why you may see your company page on new tabs at work but can't recreate it at home.

The closest built-in option: home page and startup pages

If what you want is a particular site when you open the browser, or one click away, you don't need an extension. Every browser lets you set a custom URL for these:

To set a website as the page Chrome opens on startup:

1. 1
   Open Settings from the three-dot menu, or go to chrome://settings.
2. 2
   Select On startup.
3. 3
   Choose Open a specific page or set of pages, then Add a new page.
4. 4
   Type the address and click Add.

The steps for Edge and Firefox are in our Edge and Firefox guides, and new tab vs home page vs startup pages explains how the three differ.

Option 1: a new tab redirect extension

A redirect extension does exactly what the setting used to: it opens a URL you choose on every new tab. Search the Chrome Web Store, Microsoft Edge Add-ons or addons.mozilla.org for "new tab redirect" or "new tab URL" and you will find several. Before you install one, check:

• Permissions. A redirect needs very little. Be wary of one that asks to "read and change all your data on all websites".
• When it was last updated, and whether recent reviews mention ads, a changed search engine or pages you didn't choose.
• The developer. A clear website and privacy policy are good signs.

Note: Some redirect extensions leave the cursor in the page rather than the address bar. If you usually open a new tab to type a search or URL, try that before you settle on one.

A redirect works well for one page, such as a dashboard you check all day. It works less well when you really want several sites close at hand, because only one of them can be the new tab.

Want all your sites on every new tab?

Speed Dial 2 doesn't redirect to a URL. It puts every site you use as a visual bookmark on the new tab page, sorted into groups, one click away. Free for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Brave.

Get Speed Dial 2  –  it's free

Option 2: put your sites on the new tab page itself

Often the real goal behind "set a website as my new tab" is getting to the sites you use most without typing. A new tab page extension like Speed Dial 2 does that by replacing the browser's page with your own:

• Visual bookmarks for each site, with as many as you like.
• Groups such as Work, Personal or Projects, so the right sites are on screen.
• Search that finds a bookmark from a word you remember, or phrases like "saved this week".
• Clock, tasks and notes widgets for free; weather, calendar and countdown with Pro.

To be clear, Speed Dial 2 won't load a specific website in the tab. If you need a single page to open, a redirect extension is the right tool. If you need your favorite sites one click away, a speed dial is faster: one new tab, then one click on any of them.

What about phones?

Mobile browsers are even more limited. Chrome and Edge on phones show their own new tab page, and extensions aren't supported in the regular Chrome app. Bookmarks or the browser's own shortcuts are the practical option there. If you use Speed Dial 2 Pro, the iOS and Android app gives you the same bookmarks and groups on your phone.