To turn on dark mode in Microsoft Edge, open Settings and more (the three-dot menu) → Settings → Appearance, then select Dark under Overall appearance. Choose System default if you want Edge to follow your Windows or macOS theme. This is Microsoft's documented setting.
Important: Edge's Dark appearance changes the browser interface, including tabs, menus and Settings. Websites can still have white backgrounds. To make the pages you visit dark, use the site's own theme or a website dark mode extension such as Night Eye. An experimental Edge flag is another option if it appears in your version.
Updated October 29, 2026. Desktop instructions for Microsoft Edge on Windows and macOS.
Table of contents
- How to Turn On Dark Mode in Microsoft Edge
- Microsoft Edge Dark Theme vs Website Dark Mode
- Dark Mode Extension for Microsoft Edge
- How to Install Night Eye in Microsoft Edge
- Before and After: Dark Mode on a Website
- Customize Website Dark Mode and Set a Schedule
- Other Ways to Darken Websites in Microsoft Edge
- Edge Built-In Dark Mode vs Force-Dark Flag vs Night Eye
- What About Edge Dark Mode on Android and iPhone?
- Troubleshooting: White Pages, Color Problems and Turning Dark Mode Off
- Microsoft Edge Dark Mode FAQ
- Make Edge Dark, Then Make Websites Dark
How to Turn On Dark Mode in Microsoft Edge
- Open Microsoft Edge on Windows or macOS.
- Click Settings and more (the three dots …) in the upper-right corner.
- Choose Settings, then Appearance.
- Under Overall appearance, select Dark. Your Edge tabs, menus and other browser controls change appearance.
Want it to change automatically with your computer? Choose System default instead. To revert to Edge light mode, use the same menu and select Light.
If you see a different layout, look for Theme within Appearance. Microsoft notes that the interface can vary as Edge updates. See Microsoft's dark theme guide.
Microsoft Edge Dark Theme vs Website Dark Mode
Turning on Edge's dark theme and darkening a website are two different tasks. Choose the option that matches what you want to change:
| What you want | How to do it |
|---|---|
| Dark Edge tabs, menus and Settings | Edge Settings → Appearance → Overall appearance → Dark |
| Edge follows your operating-system theme | Edge Settings → Appearance → System default |
| Dark mode on a site that already offers it | Turn on that website's own dark theme |
| Dark mode across most websites, with adjustments | Use the Night Eye Edge extension |
| Dark background for a supported article | Open Edge Immersive Reader and choose a dark page theme |
| Experiment with forced dark web content | Try the Auto Dark Mode flag, only if your Edge version exposes it |
| Return Edge's interface to light mode | Edge Settings → Appearance → Light |
A site's own dark setting is a good first choice when it looks right. Use an extension when a site has no dark theme or you want more control over its appearance.
Dark Mode Extension for Microsoft Edge
Night Eye darkens the content inside Edge tabs, not the Edge toolbar itself. The extension converts colors and page elements on most websites, including sites without a built-in dark theme. That addresses the common problem of a dark browser window surrounding a bright webpage.
Compared with a simple forced-dark flag, Night Eye provides controls that are useful for everyday browsing:
- Dark, Filtered and Normal modes: convert a page, keep its colors while softening the appearance, or leave it unchanged.
- Adjustable appearance: use brightness, contrast, saturation, dimming and blue light/warmth controls; apply custom colors or your own CSS when needed.
- Website-specific settings: keep different preferences for different websites, pages or subdomains, with an allow/disallow approach to sites that should remain unchanged.
- Automatic scheduling: choose the hours when website Dark Mode turns on and off, or use supported OS/browser color-scheme integration.
- Native-theme control where supported: choose a website's own dark theme rather than applying another conversion over it.
- Local conversion: website colors are processed on your device; browsing history and page content are not sent for webpage conversion.
Night Eye is not guaranteed to alter every page: browsers restrict extension access to some internal pages and certain embedded content. Review Night Eye features and privacy details. Night Eye Lite supports up to five websites in one browser; plans for unlimited websites are also available.
How to Install Night Eye in Microsoft Edge
- Open the Night Eye listing in Microsoft Edge Add-ons.
- Choose Get and review the permissions in the confirmation dialog; choose Add extension to continue.
- Open the Extensions puzzle-piece menu next to the address bar. If you do not see it, open Settings and more → Extensions.
- Find Dark Mode - Night Eye and use the pin control to keep its icon in your toolbar.
- Open a website and refresh it once if it was already open before you installed Night Eye. The extension normally starts in Dark mode; select its icon to confirm or adjust the mode.
Why Edge requests website access: Night Eye needs permission to analyze and modify visible page styles for the dark conversion. That does not mean your visited webpages or browsing history are transmitted to Night Eye's servers for conversion. Full Night Eye setup guide.
Before and After: Dark Mode on a Website
These two screenshots show the same real Quora page in its original light appearance and after Night Eye dark-mode conversion. The main white backgrounds become dark; text and other page colors are adjusted for readability. The comparison was captured in Safari, not Edge, and the website's layout has since changed, but it demonstrates the type of webpage conversion Night Eye provides in supported browsers, including Edge.
What changes? Website backgrounds, text, borders and smaller interface elements may be recolored; larger photos are generally preserved. Your exact result depends on the site and the Night Eye settings you choose.
Customize Website Dark Mode and Set a Schedule
Adjust contrast, brightness and filters
Open Night Eye while viewing a website and adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, dim or the blue-light/warmth controls. Choose Filtered mode if you want to retain the site's original colors but make them less intense, or Normal if you want that page unchanged.
Keep different settings for each website
Night Eye lets you apply settings globally or to the current website. You can also configure individual pages and decide whether subdomains inherit a site's settings. This is useful when an online editor, map or checkout page needs a different appearance from your news and reading sites. More advanced adjustments are possible with custom CSS.
Schedule Edge website dark mode
- Open Night Eye from the Edge toolbar.
- Open Settings → Schedule.
- Choose when Night Eye should switch website Dark Mode on and off, such as evening to morning.
Alternatively, use OS/Browser color-scheme integration to follow your system appearance. When both Schedule and OS/Browser integration are active, the integration takes precedence, so turn it off if your schedule does not seem to apply. See Night Eye Help for setup details.
Other Ways to Darken Websites in Microsoft Edge
Option 1: Use the website's own dark theme
When a website offers Dark, Appearance or Theme in its settings, that native option is often the simplest way to change that particular site. It affects the website, not the Edge interface.
Option 2: Use Edge Immersive Reader for supported articles
When available, select the Immersive Reader icon on a page, or press F9. In the reading view, open Text preferences and select a dark or black page theme. This is useful for reading articles, but not every site supports Immersive Reader and it does not darken the normal page layout. Microsoft's guidance explains this option.
Option 3: Try Edge's experimental force-dark flag
Edge versions based on Chromium have exposed Auto Dark Mode for Web Contents. Its availability in a particular Edge release is not guaranteed. Microsoft's release notes list Edge Stable 156.0.4314.50, released October 26, 2026; the underlying Chromium flag metadata still documents enable-force-dark, but that alone does not confirm that it appears in every Edge 156 installation.
- In desktop Edge, type
edge://flags/#enable-force-darkin the address bar. - If Auto Dark Mode for Web Contents appears, change its dropdown from Default to Enabled.
- Select Restart when prompted and inspect a few sites.
If the flag is absent, do not assume your installation is broken. Experimental flags can be renamed, hidden or removed. If images, forms or colors look wrong, return to the same address, choose Default (or Disabled) and restart Edge. The flag does not provide Night Eye's per-website adjustments, Filtered/Normal modes or website dark-mode schedule.
Edge Built-In Dark Mode vs Force-Dark Flag vs Night Eye
| Feature | Edge Dark appearance | Website's theme | Edge force-dark flag | Night Eye |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Makes Edge tabs and menus dark | Yes | No | No | No |
| Darkens website content | No | Only that site | Yes, if available and enabled | On all supported sites |
| Works without an extension | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Per-website control | Not for webpages | On that site | No built-in per-site settings | Yes |
| Brightness, contrast, saturation, dimming and warmth for webpages | No | Varies by site | No | Yes |
| Scheduled website dark mode | No dedicated webpage schedule | Varies by site | No | Yes |
| Leave selected pages in normal colors | Not applicable | Varies by site | No simple per-site exception | Yes |
| Custom webpage CSS | No | Not generally | No | Yes |
Practical choice: Keep Edge's own Dark appearance for the browser, prefer a website's native dark setting when it works well, and use Night Eye where you want broader website coverage or fine-grained control. The force-dark flag is an experimental alternative, not a full replacement for site-specific settings.
What About Edge Dark Mode on Android and iPhone?
Edge on Android or iPhone has a different interface from desktop Edge. Open the mobile Edge menu, then Settings, and look for Appearance or Theme to choose a darker browser interface. The menu label and position can vary by mobile release, and some versions also offer a separate webpage-darkening option.
The desktop Edge Add-ons instructions above are intended for Windows and macOS. On Edge for Android versions that support compatible extensions, Night Eye can be used through the browser's extensions feature. On iPhone and iPad, Night Eye's mobile website conversion is offered through Safari with the Night Eye Safari extension, rather than by installing the desktop Edge add-on into Edge for iOS.
Troubleshooting: White Pages, Color Problems and Turning Dark Mode Off
Edge is dark, but the website is still white
This is expected if you only enabled Edge's Overall appearance → Dark. Try the website's theme setting or install Night Eye. If you just installed Night Eye, refresh the open tab so the extension can start working on it.
Night Eye is installed but not changing the page
Open edge://extensions, check that Night Eye is enabled, then open its toolbar icon to confirm the site is using Dark rather than Normal. Check site permissions and whether the page is excluded. Extensions cannot modify some Edge-internal, store or otherwise browser-protected pages, and certain embedded content may not convert.
Text, colors or images look wrong
If you enabled Edge's experimental force-dark flag, disable it before testing Night Eye; running two webpage-darkening mechanisms can produce conflicts. On a site with its own dark theme, try the native theme or select a different Night Eye mode. Adjust contrast or brightness, or use Normal for pages that should remain unchanged. For a persistent issue, report the URL and a screenshot through Night Eye support.
Edge keeps switching between light and dark
Check whether Edge is set to System default; this makes it follow the operating system. In Night Eye, check Schedule and OS/Browser integration. The latter takes precedence when both are enabled.
How to turn off dark mode completely
- For the browser interface: choose Settings → Appearance → Overall appearance → Light.
- For a webpage converted by Night Eye: choose Normal for the site or disable the extension in
edge://extensions. - For a website's native dark theme: switch the site back to Light or its default setting.
- For experimental forced-dark pages: set
edge://flags/#enable-force-darkto Default or Disabled and restart Edge, if that flag is available.
Microsoft Edge Dark Mode FAQ
Can I make every website dark in Microsoft Edge?
Edge's built-in Dark appearance cannot do that. Night Eye converts most supported websites, but browser-protected pages and some embedded content may be outside the extension's reach. The force-dark flag, if available, is experimental and can also render certain elements incorrectly.
Is Night Eye free for Microsoft Edge?
Night Eye Lite provides a free option for up to five websites in one browser. New installations can try Pro features for three months; paid plans extend website and browser coverage. See the current Night Eye plans.
Does the Edge dark theme follow Windows 11 or macOS?
It does when System default is selected. Choose Edge's own Dark or Light setting if you want a different browser appearance from your computer's theme.
Make Edge Dark, Then Make Websites Dark
Use Edge Settings → Appearance → Overall appearance → Dark to darken the browser interface. To darken websites that remain bright, use a website's own theme or add Night Eye for customizable site dark mode, filters, site exceptions and scheduling.
Install Night Eye directly from the official Microsoft Edge Add-ons Store.