The Bing sidebar that lived inside Microsoft Edge no longer exists as a persistent panel. Microsoft retired the Bing Chat sidebar in Edge during 2024, migrating its assistant into Copilot, which now surfaces through a toolbar button, a separate app, and context menus rather than a fixed right-hand pane. If you are hunting for the old sidebar, you are looking for a feature Microsoft replaced, not one that is merely hidden. The current equivalent is the Copilot button in Edge's toolbar, available from the top-right corner of the window.
What the Bing sidebar actually was
The Bing sidebar was a docked panel on the right side of the Edge browser window. It combined a chat assistant, a search companion, and page-context tools inside one persistent column. You could open it without leaving the page you were reading, and it would summarize content, answer questions, and run comparisons alongside the site.
Mechanically, the sidebar was a WebView2 surface hosted by Edge and pointed at Microsoft's assistant endpoints. It read the active tab's content through Edge's page-context APIs when you granted permission, then sent that text to the assistant service. The panel was not a browser extension and not a separate process you could inspect easily; it was a first-party surface baked into the browser shell, which is why disabling extensions never removed it.
That first-party status matters. Because the sidebar was compiled into Edge rather than shipped as an add-on, Microsoft could change or remove it through routine browser updates without any user action.
Why it disappeared
Microsoft consolidated its consumer AI branding under Copilot across 2023 and 2024. The Bing Chat name and the Bing sidebar framing were retired in favor of Copilot as a single product across Windows, Edge, and the web. The assistant did not vanish; its entry points were redesigned.
The redesign changed the interaction model. A fixed sidebar competes with page content for horizontal space. A toolbar button that opens a flyout or a separate window gives the assistant more room and lets Microsoft serve the same experience across Edge, Windows, and standalone apps. In practical terms, the company traded a permanent docked column for an on-demand panel.
This is a common pattern in browser assistant design. Assistants that stay visible consume layout space on every page, including pages where they add nothing. On-demand invocation reduces that cost and simplifies the interface.
What replaced it, and where to find each piece
The replacement is fragmented across several surfaces. Each one covers part of what the old sidebar did.
| Old sidebar function | Current equivalent | Where to find it in Edge |
|---|---|---|
| Persistent chat panel | Copilot flyout | Copilot button in the top-right toolbar |
| Page summarization | Copilot with page context | Copilot flyout, then reference the open page |
| Inline search answers | Copilot or Bing search | Address bar search, or Copilot flyout |
| Image and text generation | Copilot | Flyout or the standalone Copilot app |
| Side-by-side browsing help | Copilot in a separate window | Open Copilot in its own window from the flyout |
| Windows-level assistant | Copilot app and Windows taskbar entry | Outside Edge entirely |
The Copilot button sits near the top-right of the Edge window, next to the extensions and profile icons. If you do not see it, the button may be hidden behind the toolbar overflow menu, shown as a chevron or three-dot control. Right-clicking the toolbar and choosing to show or hide toolbar buttons is the usual fix.
The button location is not guaranteed to stay fixed across Edge versions. Microsoft has moved assistant entry points between the toolbar, the address bar, and the overflow menu in different releases. Treat any specific pixel location as version-dependent.
Why you cannot simply re-enable the old sidebar
There is no supported toggle that restores the Bing-branded sidebar. Browser features that Microsoft removes from the product are not kept as hidden flags for users to switch back on. Edge's internal flags page (edge://flags) hosts experimental features under development, not retired ones.
Several things get confused with a hidden sidebar setting. The sidebar search toggle in Edge's settings controls whether search results open in a side panel, which is a different feature from the assistant. The Edge sidebar itself, which hosts tools like a calculator or a unit converter, is a separate surface from the retired Bing assistant panel. Turning sidebar tools on and off does not bring back the assistant.
A counterintuitive detail worth knowing: some users report that older Edge profiles or managed enterprise installations keep assistant entry points in slightly different places. That is not a preserved sidebar. It reflects version skew, policy configuration, or a staged rollout, and it disappears once the browser updates.
Edge cases that change what you see
Rollout timing explains most inconsistencies. Microsoft ships Edge features in staged waves, so two machines on the same nominal version can show different assistant layouts for days or weeks. If a colleague has a button you lack, waiting for the next update usually resolves it.
Sign-in state matters. Copilot features in Edge historically required a Microsoft account signed into the browser, and some capabilities were gated by region and by account type. A work or school account managed by an organization may have Copilot disabled by policy even when a personal account would enable it.
Enterprise policy is the most common corporate cause. Administrators can disable assistant features through group policy and Edge's administrative templates. When that happens, no user-level setting restores the feature. The fix is a policy change by the organization, not a browser tweak.
Operating system and region also factor in. Feature availability has varied by market and by Windows version, so a machine in one region may show assistant entry points that another does not.
The Copilot button is missing entirely: check the toolbar overflow menu and toolbar customization first. The button appears but chat is unavailable: verify you are signed into Edge with a Microsoft account. A work machine blocks the feature: confirm whether your organization has disabled assistant features by policy. The button moved after an update: this is normal interface churn, not a malfunction. A sidebar-like panel opens but shows search results only: that is the search side panel, not the assistant.
Misconceptions worth clearing up
The most common misconception is that the sidebar is hidden and a setting will reveal it. It was removed from the product, not concealed. Searching settings menus for a Bing sidebar toggle will not produce one.
A second misconception is that installing the Bing or Copilot extension restores the old panel. Extensions can add a side panel of their own, but they cannot recreate a first-party browser surface that Microsoft compiled in and later removed. An extension side panel may look similar, but it is a different mechanism with different permissions and behavior.
A third is that the sidebar is the same thing as Edge's built-in sidebar. Edge retains a sidebar for tools such as a calculator, a dictionary, and Office shortcuts. That sidebar is a container for widgets. The Bing assistant panel was one occupant of that container and was retired independently of the container itself.
A fourth misconception concerns timing. People often assume the sidebar broke after an update and can be rolled back by reverting the browser version. Reverting Edge is difficult on managed systems and generally not supported for consumers, and even a successful rollback would only delay the change until the next update.
Practical steps to get the same capability today
Start with the toolbar. Open Edge, look at the top-right corner, and click the Copilot button if present. If it is absent, right-click the toolbar area and enable the Copilot button from the customization menu, or check the overflow chevron.
Sign in if prompted. Use a Microsoft account, and if you are on a work device, check with your administrator whether assistant features are permitted. A policy block will not surface an error you can fix locally.
Use the flyout for page context. Open the page you want summarized, launch Copilot from the toolbar, and reference the page in your prompt. This reproduces the old sidebar's page-aware behavior without a permanent panel.
Open Copilot in a separate window when you want side-by-side work. The flyout can be detached or the standalone Copilot app can run beside Edge. This approximates the old docked layout more closely than the flyout alone.
Try the address bar for quick searches. Typing a question and letting Copilot or Bing answer in the search surface covers the fast-lookup case the sidebar handled.
For repeat use, pin the Copilot app to the Windows taskbar. It launches independently of Edge and stays available across applications, which is closer to a system-wide assistant than a browser panel ever was.
Limits of what can be restored or predicted
Nothing in Edge restores the retired Bing sidebar, and no user-facing setting or extension faithfully recreates a first-party surface Microsoft removed. Third-party side panels can mimic the look, but they differ in permissions, data handling, and reliability.
Exact button placement, feature gating, and availability change with Edge versions, account type, region, and organizational policy. Any location described here should be treated as a starting point to check, not a fixed guarantee.
This article is general educational information about how a browser feature changed, not technical support for a specific device, account, or organization. For a managed computer, consult your IT administrator; for account-specific problems, contact Microsoft support.