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EDGE update removed my entire curated list of extra search engines and disabled and removed extensions

Ailean 5 Reputation points
2026-02-21T13:30:30.9733333+00:00

Hi,

When I opened Edge this morning I saw it had updated itself. First it had removed all my pinned extensions, disabled some of them and removed some of them without warning and also without any valid reason.

It has also removed my vast collection of specialist search engines which are vital to my work and workflow and will take hours to add them by hand.

Is there a way to add this through my google chrome installation? Is there a way to restore this?

And most importantly: How on earth can you allow this to happen? My installation is my installation, you don't get to decide what I have installed and what you think may be deleted. You have just turned Edge into my most used browser into a brick of useless nothing.

I need an easy way of restoring this. It's your fault so please fix this.

Microsoft Edge | Install and update | Windows 11
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  1. Alex-L 4,825 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-03-09T13:27:03.73+00:00

    Hi Ailean

    Thanks for posting in the Microsoft Q&A Forum!

    I understand how disruptive this is, losing extensions and a curated set of search engines after an update can completely break a workflow.

    • There is no supported way to restore deleted custom search engines in Edge once they are removed.
    • Edge cannot import search engines from Google Chrome. Only bookmarks, passwords, history, and extensions are supported.
    • If the data is not still present on another synced device or in a local profile backup, it must be re‑added manually.

    What you can still check:

    • If you use Edge Sync, verify whether another device still has the profile intact before opening Edge there.
    • Check the local profile folder: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge\User Data If the profile folder was fully wiped, recovery is not possible.

    Lastly, you can submit feedback via Edge > Settings > Help and feedback > Send feedback, clearly marking this as data loss caused by an update.

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  3. Ailean 5 Reputation points
    2026-02-21T13:37:14.9866667+00:00

    I just received a nice answer from the AI with this:
    Import Search Engines: Currently, Edge does not support importing search engines directly from Google Chrome. You will need to add your search engines manually through the Edge settings. To do this:

    • Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Address bar and search > Manage search engines.
    • Here, you can add your preferred search engines.

    If you don't provide or support importing search engines directly from Chrome or any other way then don't REMOVE them.

    Keep you hands of people's installations. Update what you want but retain the information that is there. It's absurd you think you can do this, without repercussions. Which is the problem, you don't get repercussions apart from angry customers. That's it.

    Make either a shortterm solution through a mini app or even build an extension to import the search engines from Google or build something permanent into SYNC so that this can be synced without any problems. If you can sync extensions you can sync search engines. Or make import/export a possibility.

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