How to disable Edge’s new URL copy and paste feature

If you’re using a recent version of Microsoft’s Edge browser, you might have noticed that the way URLs copy and paste has changed. As of Edge version 87 for Windows or 88 for macOS, you’ll find that by default trying to copy and paste a URL from an address bar will paste the title of a webpage as a hyperlink rather than its URL directly.

So instead of seeing:

https://thevergetoday.pages.dev/

...like you’d expect to, you’ll instead paste:

The Verge

Depending on what you’re doing, this might be helpful. If you’re sending an email that you want to be nicely formatted with a hyperlink, then this might save you some time, for example. It’s also possible to still paste a plain URL if you use the Ctrl + Shift + V command to paste the plain URL without formatting.

But there are plenty of occasions where you just want to get a URL without having to remember to hold down an extra button. Not to mention the fact that there are a lot of webpages out there with messy titles that don’t share very well. Look at the page title for an individual tweet, for example, and you’ll see that it contains the entire text of the tweet, which ends up looking messy when you’re trying to paste it.

Here’s an example tweet’s URL:

https://twitter.com/verge/status/1330867474817015811

And here’s what gets pasted using Edge’s new feature:

The Verge on Twitter: “A different Super Mario Bros. game now holds the title for most expensive ever sold https://t.co/l5NAyNSeA3 https://t.co/FnWuM11kKQ” / Twitter

Thankfully, it’s a simple process to swap back.

To change how Edge handles copying and pasting links, click the button with the three dots on it to the right of the toolbar, and select “Settings” from the drop-down menu that appears. On the left, you’ll see a “Share, copy, and paste” section.

Click it, and inside, you’ll have the option of posting either a “Link” by default or “Plain text.” The former will paste the title of a page as a hyperlink by default, while the latter pastes a traditional URL.

That’s it! Remember to apply the setting across all of the profiles you use in Microsoft Edge in case you have different ones set up for home and work.