Microsoft’s Edge browser uses Bing as its default search engine, but Edge can use any search engine that supports OpenSearch as its default. The option easily accessible — it’s not buried as it used to be in Internet Explorer and doesn’t require browser plugins to ‘install’ a search engine.
Choose Your Search Engines
The “OpenSearch” search standard is used by web pages to expose its search engine information, Edge notices this and makes a record of the search engine information. This is how Google Chrome also works.
All you need to do is visit the search engine’s website. If you want to ‘install’ Google as a search option, visit Google’s homepage. For DuckDuckGo, visit DuckDuckGo’s homepage.
Changing Your Default Search Engine
To change your search provider, select the menu button — the three dots at the top-right corner of the Microsoft Edge window. Select “Settings” in the menu.
Scroll down in the Settings panel and select “View advanced settings” button near the bottom.
Scroll down again in the Advanced settings list and you’ll see the “Search in the address bar with” box. Sselect “Add new.”
You’ll see a list of available search providers. Highlight the search engine you want to use and select “Add as default.”
If the search engine you want to use doesn’t appear in this list, go back and visit the search engine’s homepage first. It is rare nowadays for a search engine not to support OpenSearch – it’s in thier interest to make switching as easy as possible.
Search From the Address Bar or New Tab Page
Type a search into Edge’s address bar and hit Enter — it’ll automatically search using your default search engine. Edge will provide further suggestions from that default engine in the drop-down box, assuming your search engine supports suggestions and you leave them enabled in Edge’s settings.
This setting doesn’t affect searches outside of Microsoft Edge. Open a search from the Start menu or via Cortana and choose “Search the web” and Windows will default to searching with Bing. Cortana is, after all, “powered by Bing.”
This also doesn’t affect any other browsers you may be running on your machine. Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers have their own default search options. AJS
